• 


•^m 


&• 


• 


r 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OR 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


• 


THE  GHOSTS 


AND    OTHER    LECTURES 


ROBERT   G.  INGERSOLL. 


THE  IDEA  or  IMMOBTALITY,  THAT  LIKE  A  SEA  HAS  EBBED  AND   FLOWED  m  THE 

HUMAN  HEART,  WITH  ITS  COUNTLESS  WAVES  OF  HOPE  AND  FEAR,  BEATING  AGAINST 
THE  SHORES  AND  ROCKS  OF  TIME  AND  FATE,  WAS  NOT  BORN  OK  ANY  BOOK,'  NOR  OK 
ANY  CREED,  NOR  OF  ANY  RELIGION.  IT  WAS  BORN  OF  HUMAN  AFFECTION,  AND  IT  WILL 
CON  TINUE  TO  EUB  AND  FLOW  BEN'EATH  THE  MISTS  AND  CLOUDS  OF  DOUBT  AND  DARK 
NESS  AS  LONG  AS  LOVE  KISSES  THE  LIPS  OF  DEATH. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C.: 
C.    P.    FARRELL,    PUBLISHER, 

1878. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1878,  by 

ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL, 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


ELKCTKOTYP«D  »r  BLOUGKK.N  BROS.  &  C 


TO 

EBON    C.  INGERSOLL, 

MY   BROTHER 

FROM  WHOSE   LIPS  I  HEARD  THE  FIRST  APPLAUSE, 

AND  WITH  WHOSE  NAME  I  WISH  MY  OWN 

ASSOCIATED  UNTIL  BOTH  ARE 

FORGOTTEN, 

THIS  VOLUME  IS  DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  GHOSTS,  -  -      9 

LET  THE  GHOSTS  Go.     WE  WILL  WORSHIP  THEM  NO  MORE.      LET 

•THEM    COVER  THEIR    EYELESS    SOCKETS   WITH    THEIR    FLESH- 
LESS  HANDS  AND  FADE  FOREVER   FROM  THE  IMAGINATIONS 

OF  MEN. 
i       ' 

THE  LIBERTY  OF  MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD,    -     73 

LIBERTY  SUSTAINS  THE  SAME  RELATION  TO  MIND  THAT  SPACE  DOES 
TO  MATTER. 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE,     -        -  145 

ONE    HUNDRED   YEARS  AGO   OUR   FATHERS    RETIRED  THE  GODS 
FROM  POLITICS. 

ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS,  -  181 

To  PLOW  is  To   PRAY  —  To   PLANT  is  To  PROPHECY,   AND  THE 
.  HARVEST  ANSWERS  AND  FULFILLS. 

SPEECH  AT  CINCINNATI,  -  -221 

NOMINATING  JAMES  G.  ELAINE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY,  JUNE,   1876. 

THE  PAST  RISES  BEFORE  ME  LIKE  A  DREAM,     229 

EXTRACT   FROM  A  SPEECH  DELIVERED  AT  THE  SOLDIERS'  REUNION 
AT  INDIANAPOLIS,  SEPT.  21,  1876. 


PREFACE. 


THESE  lectures  have  been  so  maimed  and  muti 
lated  by  orthodox  malice ;  have  been  made  to 
appear  so  halt,  crutched  and  decrepit  by  those  who 
mistake  the  pleasures  of  calumny  for  the  duties  of 
religion,  that  in  simple  justice  to  myself  I  concluded 
to  publish  them. 

Most  of  the  clergy  are,  or  seem  to  be,  utterly 
incapable  of  discussing  anything  in  a  fair  and 
catholic  spirit.  They  appeal,  not  to  reason,  but  to 
prejudice  ;  not  to  facts,  but  to  passages  of  scripture. 
They  can  conceive  of  no  goodness,  of  no  spiritual 
exaltation  beyond  the  horizon  of  their  creed.  Who 
ever  differs  with  them  upon  what  they  are  pleased 
to  call  "fundamental  truths,"  is,  in  their  opinion,  a 
base  and  infamous  man.  To  re-enact  the  tragedies 
of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  they  lack  only  the  power. 
Bigotry  in  all  ages  has  been  the  same.  Christianity 
simply  transferred  the  brutality  of  the  Colosseum  to 


ii  PREFACE. 

the  Inquisition.  For  the  murderous  combat  of  the 
gladiators,  the  saints  substituted  the  auto  de  fe. 
What  has  been  called  religion  is,  after  all,  but  the 
organization  of  the  wild  beast  in  man.  The  per 
fumed  blossom  of  arrogance  is  Heaven.  Hell  is 
the  consummation  of  revenge. 

The  chief  business  of  the  clergy  has  always 
been  to  destroy  the  joy  of  life,  and  multiply  and 
magnify  the  terrors  and  tortures  of  death  and  per 
dition.  They  have  polluted  the  heart  and  paralyzed 
the  brain ;  and  upon  the  ignorant  altars  of  the  Past 
and  the  Dead,  they  have  endeavored  to  sacrifice 
the  Present  and  the  Living. 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  mendacity  of  the  reli 
gious  press.  I  have  had  some  little  experience 
with  political  editors,  and  am  forced  to  say,  that  un 
til  I  read  the  religious  papers,  I  did  not  know  what 
malicious  and  slimy  falsehoods  could  be  constructed 
from  ordinary  words.  The  ingenuity  .with  which 
the  real  and  apparent  meaning  can  be  tortured  out 
of  language,  is  simply  amazing.  The  average  re 
ligious  editor  is  intolerant  and  insolent;  he  knows 
nothing  of  affairs ;  he  has  the  envy  of  failure,  the 
malice  of  impotence,  and  always  accounts  for  the 
brave  and  generous  actions  of  unbelievers,  by  low, 
base  and  unworthy  motives. 


PREFACE.  iii 

By  this  time,  even  the  clergy  should  know  that 
the  intellect  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  needs  no 
guardian.  They  should  cease  to  regard  themselves 
as  shepherds  defending  flocks  of  weak,  silly  and 
fearful  sheep  from  the  claws  and  teeth  of  ravening 
wolves.  By  this  time  they  should  know  that  the 
religion  of  the  ignorant  and  brutal  Past  no  longer 
satisfies  the  heart  and  brain ;  that  the  miracles  have 
become  contemptible;  that  the  "evidences"  have 
ceased  to  convince ;  that  the  spirit  of  investigation 
cannot  be  stopped  nor  stayed ;  that  the  Church  is 
losing  her  power ;  that  the  ycung  are  holding  in  a 
kind  of  tender  contempt  the  sacred  follies  of  the 
old  ;  that  the  pulpit  arid  pews  no  longer  represent 
the  culture  and  morality  of  the  world,  and  that  the 
brand  of  intellectual  inferiority  is  upon  the  ortho 
dox  brain. 

Men  should  be  liberated  from  the  aristocracy  of 
the  air.  Every  chain  of  superstition  should  be 
broken.  The  rights  of  men  and  women  should  be 
equal  and  sacred  —  marriage  should  be  a  perfect 
partnership  —  children  should  be  governed  by  kind 
ness, —  every  family  should  be  a  republic  —  every 
fireside  a  democracy. 

It  seems  almost  impossible  for  religious  people 


iv  PREFACE. 

to  really  grasp  the  idea  of  intellectual  freedom. 
They  seem  to  think  that  man  is  responsible  for  his 
honest  thoughts ;  that  unbelief  is  a  crime ;  that  in 
vestigation  is  sinful ;  that  credulity  is  a  virtue,  and 
that  reason  is  a  dangerous  guide.  They  cannot 
divest  themselves  of  the  idea  that  in  the  realm  of 
thought  there  must  be  government  —  authority  and 
obedience — laws  and  penalties  —  rewards  and  pun 
ishments,  and  that  somewhere  in  the  universe  there 
is  a  penitentiary  for  the  soul. 

In  the  republic  of  mind,  one  is  a  majority. 
There,  all  are  monarchs,  and  all  are  equals.  The 
tyranny  of  a  majority  even  is  unknown.  Each  one 
is  crowned,  sceptered  and  throned.  Upon  every 
brow  is  the  tiara,  and  around  every  form  is  the  im 
perial  purple.  Only  those  are  good  citizens  who 
express  their  honest  thoughts,  and  those  who  per 
secute  for  opinion's  sake,  are  the  only  traitors. 
There,  nothing  is  considered  infamous  except  an 
appeal  to  brute  force,  and  nothing  sacred  but  love, 
liberty,  and  joy.  The  church  contemplates  this 
republic  with  a  sneer.  From  the  teeth  of.  hatred 
she  draws  back  the  lips  of  scorn.  She  is  filled 
with  the  spite  and  spleen  born  of  intellectual  weak 
ness.  Once  she  was  egotistic ;  now  she  is  envious. 


PREFACE.  v 

Once  she  wore  upon  her  hollow  breast  false  gems, 
supposing  them  to  be  real.  They  have  been  shown 
to  be  false,  but  she  wears  them  still.  She  has  the 
malice  of  the  caught,  the  hatred  of  the  exposed. 

We  are  told  to  investigate  the  bible  for  our 
selves,  and  at  the  same  time  informed  that  if  we 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  not  the  inspired 
word  of  God,  we  will  most  assuredly  be  damned. 
Under  such  circumstances,  if  we  believe  this,  inves 
tigation  is  impossible.  Whoever  is  held  responsible 
for  his  conclusions  cannot  weigh  the  evidence  with 
impartial  scales.  Fear  stands  at  the  balance,  and 
gives  to  falsehood  the  weight  of  its  trembling  hand. 

I  oppose  the  Church  because  she  is  the  enemy 
of  liberty ;  because  her  dogmas  are  infamous  and 
cruel;  because  she  humiliates  and  degrades, 
woman ;  because  she  teaches  the  doctrines  of  eter 
nal  torment  and  the  natural  depravity  of  man ;  be 
cause  she  insists  upon  the  absurd,  the  impossible, 
and  the  senseless;  because  she  resorts  to  falsehood 
and  slander;  because  she  is  arrogant  and  revenge 
ful  ;  because  she  allows  men  to  sin  on  a  credit ;  be 
cause  she  discourages  self-reliance,  and  laughs  at 
good  works ;  because  she  believes  in  vicarious  vir 
tue  and  vicarious  vice  —  vicarious  punishment  and 


vi  PREFACE. 

vicarious  reward ;  because  she  regards  repentance 
of  more  importance  than  restitution,  and  because 
she  sacrifices  the  world  we  have  to  one  we  know 
not  of. 

The  free  and  generous,  the  tender  and  affec 
tionate,  will  understand  me.  Those  who  have 
escaped  from  the  grated  cells  of  a  creed  will  appre 
ciate  my  motives.  The  sad  and  suffering  wives, 
the  trembling  and  loving  children  will  thank  me : 
This  is  enough. 

ROBERT  G.  INGERSOL-L. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C., 

April  13,  1878. 


THE  GHOSTS. 


THE  GHOSTS. 


LET  THEM  COVER  THEIR  EYELESS  SOCKETS  WITH  THEIR 
FLESHLESS  HANDS  AND  FADE  FOREVER  FROM  THE 
IMAGINATION  OF  MEN. 

THERE  are  three  theories  by  which  men 
account  for  all  phenomena,  for  everything 
that  happens :  First,  the  Supernatural ;  Second, 
the  Supernatural  and  Natural;  Third,  the  Natural. 
Between  these  theories  there  has  been,  from  the 
dawn  of  civilization,  a  continual  conflict.  In  this 
great  war,  nearly  all  the  soldiers  have  been  in  the 
ranks  of  the  supernatural.  The  believers  in  the 
supernatural  insist  that  matter  is  controlled  and 
directed  entirely  by  powers  from  without;  while 
naturalists  maintain  that  Nature  acts  from  within  ; 
that  Nature  is  not  acted  upon ;  that  the  universe  is 
all  there  is ;  that  Nature  with  infinite  arms  em 
braces  everything  that  exists,  and  that  all  supposed 
powers  beyond  the  limits  of  the  material  are 


10  THE   GHOSTS. 


simply  ghosts.  You  say,  "Oh,  this  is  materialism!" 
What  is  matter  ?  I  take  in  my  hand  some  earth : — 
in  this  dust  put  seeds.  Let  the  arrows  of  light 
from  the  quiver  of  the  sun  smite  upon  it ;  let  the 
rain  fall  upon  it.  The  seeds  will  grow  and  a  plant 
will  bud  and  blossom.  Do  you  understand  this? 
Can  you  explain  it  better  than  you  can  the  produc 
tion  of  thought?  Have  you  the  slightest  conception 
of  what  it  really  is?  And  yet  you  speak  of  matter 
as  though  acquainted  with  its  origin,  as  though 
you  had  torn  from  the  clenched  hands  of  the  rocks 
the  secrets  of  material  existence.  Do  you  know 
what  force  is?  Can  you  account  for  molecular 
action?  Are  you  really  familiar  with  chemistry, 
and  can  you  account  for  the  loves  and  hatreds  of 
the  atoms  ?  Is  there  not  something  in  matter  that 
forever  eludes?  After  all,  can  you  get  beyond, 
above  or  below  appearances?  Before  you  cry 
"materialism!"  had  you  not  better  ascertain  what 
matter  really  is?  Can  you  think  even  of  anything 
without  a  material  basis  ?  Is  it  possible  to  imagine 
the  annihilation  of  a  single  atom?  Is  it  possible 
for  you  to  conceive  of  the  creation  of  an  atom? 
Can  you  have  a  thought  that  was  not  suggested 
to  you  by  what  you  call  matter? 


THE  GHOSTS.  11 


Our  fathers  denounced  materialism,  and  ac 
counted  for  all  phenomena  by  the  caprice  of  gods 
and  devils. 

For  thousands  of  years  it  was  believed  that 
ghosts,  good  and  bad,  benevolent  and  malignant, 
weak  and  powerful,  in  some  mysterious  way,  pro 
duced  all  phenomena;  that  disease  and  health, 
happiness  and  misery,  fortune  and  misfortune, 
peace  and  war,  life  and  death,  success  and  failure, 
were  but  arrows  from  the  quivers  of  these  ghosts ; 
that  shadowy  phantoms  rewarded  and  punished 
mankind ;  that  they  were  pleased  and  displeased 
by  the  actions  of  men ;  that  they  sent  and  withheld 
the  snow,  the  light,  and  the  rain ;  that  they  blessed 
the  earth  with  harvests  or  cursed  it  with  famine ; 
that  they  fed  or  starved  the  children  of  men ;  that 
they  crowned  and  uncrowned  kings ;  that  they  took 
sides  in  war ;  that  they  controlled  the  winds ;  that 
they  gave  prosperous  voyages,  allowing  the  brave 
mariner  to  meet  his  wife  and  child  inside  the  harbor 
bar,  or  sent  the  storms,  strewing  the  sad  shores 
with  wrecks  of  ships  and  the  bodies  of  men. 

Formerly,  these  ghosts  were  believed  to  be 
almost  innumerable.  Earth,  air,  and  water  were 
filled  with  these  phantom  hosts.  In  modern  times 


12  THE  GHOSTS. 


they  have  greatly  decreased  in  number,  because 
the  second  theory, —  a  mingling  of  the  supernatural 
and  natural, —  has  generally  been  adopted.  The 
remaining  ghosts,  however,  are  supposed  to  per 
form  the  same  offices  as  the  hosts  of  yore. 

It  has  always  been  believed  that  these  ghosts 
could  in  some  way  be  appeased ;  that  they  could  be 
flattered  by  sacrifices,  by  prayer,  by  fasting,  by  the 
building  of  temples  and  cathedrals,  by  the  blood 
of  men  and  beasts,  by  forms  and  ceremonies,  by 
chants,  by  kneelings  and  prostrations,  by  flagella 
tions  and  maimings,  by  renouncing  the  joys  of 
home,  by  living  alone  in  the  wide  desert,  by  the 
practice  of  celibacy,  by  inventing  instruments  of 
torture,  by  destroying  men,  women  and  children, 
by  covering  the  earth  with  dungeons,  by  burning 
unbelievers,  by  putting  chains  upon  the  thoughts 
and  manacles  upon  the  limbs  of  men,  by  believing 
things  without  evidence  and  against  evidence,  by 
disbelieving  and  denying  demonstration,  by  despis 
ing  facts,  by  hating  reason,  by  denouncing  liberty, 
by  maligning  heretics,  by  slandering  the  dead,  by 
subscribing  to  senseless  and  cruel  creeds,  by  dis 
couraging  investigation,  by  worshiping  a  book,  by 
the  cultivation  of  credulity,  by  observing  certain 


THE  GHOSTS.  13 


times  and  days,  by  counting  beads,  by  gazing  at 
crosses,  by  hiring  others  to  repeat  verses  and 
prayers,  by  burning  candles  and  ringing  bells,  by 
enslaving  each  other  and  putting  out  the  eyes  of 
the  soul.  All  this  has  been  done  to  appease  and 
flatter  these  monsters  of  the  air. 

In  the  history  of  our  poor  world,  no  horror  has 
been"  omitted,  no  infamy  has  been  left  undone  by 
the  believers  in  ghosts, — by  the  worshipers  of  these 
fleshless  phantoms.  And  yet  these  shadows  were 
born  of  cowardice  and  malignity.  They  were 
painted  by  the  pencil  of  fear  upon  the  canvas  of 
ignorance  by  that  artist  called  superstition. 

From  these  ghosts,  our  fathers  received  infor 
mation.  They  were  the  schoolmasters  of  our  ances 
tors.  They  were  the  scientists  and  philosophers, 
the  geologists,  legislators,  astronomers,  physicians, 
metaphysicians  and  historians  of  the  past.  For 
ages  these  ghosts  were  supposed  to  be  the  only 
source  of  real  knowledge.  They  inspired  men  to 
write  books,  and  the  books  were  considered  sacred. 
If  facts  were  found  to  be  inconsistent  with  these 
books,  so  much  the  worse  for  the  facts,  and 
especially  for  their  discoverers.  It  was  then,  and 
still  is,  believed  that  these  books  are  the  basis  of 


14  THE  GHOSTS. 


the  idea  of  immortality ;  that  to  give  up  these 
volumes,  or  rather  the  idea  that  they  are  inspired, 
is  to  renounce  the  idea  of  immortality.  This  I 
deny. 

The  idea  of  immortality,  that  like  a  sea  has 
ebbed  and  flowed  in  the  human  heart,  with  its 
countless  waves  of  hope  and  fear,  beating  against 
the  shores  and  rocks  of  time  and  fate,  was  not  born 
of  any  book,  nor  of  any  creed,  nor  of  any  religion. 
It  was  born  of  human  affection,  and  if  will  continue 
to  ebb  and  flow  beneath  the  mists  and  clouds  of 
doubt  and  darkness  as  long  as  love  kisses  the  lips 
of  death.  It  is  the  rainbow — Hope  shining  upon 
the  tears  of  grief. 

From  the  books  written  by  the  ghosts  we  have 
at  last  ascertained  that  they  knew  nothing  about 
the  world  in  which  we  live.  Did  they  know 
anything  about  the  next !  Upon  every  point 
where  contradiction  is  possible,  they  have  been 
contradicted. 

By  these  ghosts,  by  these  citizens  of  the  air, 
the  affairs  of  government  were  administered ;  all 
authority  to  govern  came  from  them.  The  emper 
ors,  kings  and  potentates  all  had  commissions  from 
these  phantoms.  Man  was  not  considered  as  the 


THE  GHOSTS.  15 


source  of  any  power  whatever.  To  rebel  against 
the  king  was  to  rebel  against  the  ghosts,  and 
nothing  less  than  the  blood  of  the  offender  could 
appease  the  invisible  phantom  or  the  visible  tyrant. 
Kneeling  was  the  proper  position  to  be  assumed 
by  the  multitude.  The  prostrate  were  the  good. 
Those  who  stood  erect  were  infidels  and  traitors. 
In  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  ghosts, 
man  was  enslaved,  crushed,  and  plundered.  The 
many  toiled  wearily  in  the  storm  and  sun  that  the 
few  favorites  of  the  ghosts  might  live  in  idleness. 
The  many  lived  in  huts,  and  caves,  and  dens,  that 
the  few  might  dwell  in  palaces.  The  many  covered 
themselves  with  rags,  that  the  few  might  robe 
themselves  in  purple  and  in  gold.  The  many 
crept,  and  cringed,  and  crawled,  that  the  few  might 
tread  upon  their  flesh  with  iron  feet. 

From  the  ghosts  men  received,  not  only  author 
ity,  but  information  of  every  kind.  They  told  us 
the  form  of  this  earth.  They  informed  us  that 
eclipses  were  caused  by  the  sins  of  man ;  that  the 
universe  was  made  in  six  days;  that  astronomy, 
and  geology  were  devices  of  wicked  men,  instigated 
by  wicked  ghosts ;  that  gazing  at  the  sky  with  a 
telescope  was  a  dangerous  thing ;  that  digging  into 


16  THE  GHOSTS. 


the  earth  was  sinful  curiosity;  that  trying  to  be 
wise  above  what  they  had  written  was  born  of  a 
rebellious  and  irreverent  spirit. 

They  told  us  there  was  no  virtue  like  belief,  and 
no  crime  like  doubt;  that  investigation  was  pure 
impudence,  and  the  punishment  therefor,  eternal 
torment.  They  not  only  told  us  all  about  this 
world,  but  about  two  others ;  and  if  their  state 
ments  about  the  other  worlds  are  as  true  as  about 
this,  no  one  can  estimate  the  value  of  their  in 
formation. 

For  countless  ages  the  world  was  governed  by 
ghosts,  and  they  spared  no  pains  to  change  the 
eagle  of  the  human  intellect  into  a  bat  of  darkness. 
To  accomplish  this  infamous  purpose ;  to  drive  the 
love  of  truth  from  the  human  heart ;  to  prevent  the 
advancement  of  mankind;  to  shut  out  from  the 
world  every  ray  of  intellectual  light;  to  pollute 
every  mind  with  superstition,  the  power  of  kings, 
the  cunning  and  cruelty  of  priests,  and  the  wealth 
of  nations  were  exhausted. 

During  these  years  of  persecution,  ignorance, 
superstition  and  slavery,  nearly  all  the  people,  the 
kings,  lawyers,  doctors,  the  learned  and  the  un 
learned,  believed  in  that  frightful  production  of 


THE  GHOSTS.  17 


ignorance,  fear,  and  faith,  called  witchcraft.  They 
believed  that  man  was  the  sport  and  prey  of  devils. 
They  really  thought  that  the  very  air  was  thick 
with  these  enemies  of  man.  With  few  exceptions, 
this  hideous  and  infamous  belief  was  universal. 
Under  these  conditions,  progress  was  almost  im 
possible. 

Fear  paralyzes  the  brain.  Progress  is  born  of 
courage.  Fear  believes  —  courage  doubts.  Fear 
falls  upon  the  earth  and  prays  —  courage  stands 
erect  and  thinks.  Fear  retreats  —  courage  advan 
ces..  Fear  is  barbarism  —  courage  is  civilization. 
Fear  believes  in  witchcraft,  in  devils  and  in  ghosts. 
Fear  is  religion  — courage  is  science. 

The  facts,  upon  which  this  terrible  belief  rested, 
were  proved  over  and  over  again  in  every  court  of 
Europe.  Thousands  confessed  theirtselves  guilty — 
admitted  that  they  had  sold  themselves  to  the  devil. 
They  gave  the  particulars  of  the  sale ;  told  what 
they  said  and  what  the  devil  replied.  They  con- 
fesseci  this,  when  they  knew  that  confession  was 
death ;  knew  that  their  property  would  be  con 
fiscated,  and  their  children  left  to  beg  their  bread. 
This  is  one  of  the  miracles  of  history — one  of  the 
strangest  contradictions  of  the  human  mind.  With- 


18  THE  GHOSTS. 


out  doubt,  they  really  believed  themselves  guilty. 
In  the  first  place,  they  believed  in  witchcraft  as  a 
fact,  and  when  charged  with  it,  they  probably 
became  insane.  In  their  insanity  they  confessed 
their  guilt.  They  found  themselves  abhorred  and 
deserted  —  charged  with  a  crime  that  they  could 
not  disprove.  Like  a  man  in  quicksand,  every 
effort  only  sunk  them  deeper.  Caught  in  this 
frightful  web,  at  the  mercy  of  the  spiders  of  super 
stition,  hope  fled,  and  nothing  remained  but  the 
insanity  of  confession.  The  whole  world  appeared 
to  be  insane. 

In  the  time  of  James  the  First,  a  man  was 
executed  for  causing  a  storm  at  sea  with  the  inten 
tion  of  drowning  one  of  the  royal  family.  How 
could  he  disprove  it?  How  could  he  show  that  he 
did  not  cause  the  storm?  All  storms  were  at  that 
time  generally  supposed  to  be  caused  by  the  devil 
—  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air — and  by 
those  whom  he  assisted. 

I  implore  you  to  remember  that  the  believers  in 
such  impossible  things  were  the  authors  of  our 
creeds  and  confessions  of  faith. 

A  woman  was  tried  and  convicted  before  Sir 
Matthew  Hale,  one  of  the  great  judges  and  lawyers 


THE  GHOSTS.  19 


•  of  England,  for  having  caused  children  to  vomit 
crooked  pins.  She  was  also  charged  with  having 
nursed  devils.  The  learned  judge  charged  the 
intelligent  jury  that  there  was  no  doubt  as  to  the 
existence  of  witches ;  that  it  was  established  by  all 
history,  and  expressly  taught  by  the  bible. 

The  woman  was  hanged  and  her  body  burned. 

Sir  Thomas  Moore  declared  that  to  give  up 
witchcraft  was  to  throw  away  the  sacred  scriptures. 
In  my  judgment,  he  was  right. 

John  Wesley  was  a  firm  believer  in  ghosts  and 
witches,  and  insisted  upon  it,  years  after  all  laws 
upon  the  subject  had  been  repealed  in  England.  I 
beg  of  you  to  remember  that  John  Wesley  was  the 
founder  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

In  New  England,  a  woman  was  charged  with 
being  a  witch,  and  with  having  changed  herself  into 
a  fox.  While  in  that  condition  she  was  attacked 
and  bitten  by  some  dogs.  A  committee  of  three 
men,  by  order  of  the  court,  examined  this  woman. 
They  removed  her  clothing  and  searched  for  <(  witch 
spots."  That  is  to  say,  spots  into  which  needles 
could  be  thrust  without  giving  her  pain.  They 
reported  to  the  court  that  such  spots  were  found. 
She  denied,  however,  that  she  ever  had  changed 


20  THE  GHOSTS. 


herself  into  a  fox.  Upon  the  report  of  the  com 
mittee  she  was  found  guilty  and  actually  executed. 
This  was  done  by  our  Puritan  fathers,  by  the 
gentlemen  who  braved  the  dangers  of  the  deep  for 
the  sake  of  worshiping  God  and  persecuting  their 
fellow  men. 

In  those  days  people  believed  in  what  was 
known  as  lycanthropy — that  is,  that  persons,  with 
the  assistance  of  the  devil,  could  assume  the  form 
of  wolves.  An  instance  is  given  where  a  man  was 
attacked  by  a  wolf.  He  defended  himself,  and 
succeeded  in  cutting  off  one  of  the  animal's  paws. 
The  wolf  ran  away.  The  man  picked  up  the  paw, 
put  it  in  his  pocket  and  carried  it  home.  There  he 
found  his  wife  with  one  of  her  hands  gone.  He 
took  the  paw  from  his  pocket.  It  had  changed  to  a 
human  hand.  He  charged  his  wife  with  being  a 
witch.  She  was  tried.  She  confessed  her  guilt, 
and  was  burned. 

People  were  burned  for  causing  frosts  in  sum 
mer —  for  destroying  crops  with  hail  —  for  causing 
storms  —  for  making  cows  go  dry,  and  even  for 
souring  beer.  There  was  no  impossibility  for  which 
some  one  was  not  tried  and  convicted.  The  life  of 
no  one  was  secure.  To  be  charged,  was  to  be 


THE  GHOSTS.  21 


convicted.  Every  man  was  at  the  mercy  of  every 
other.  This  infamous  belief  was  so  firmly  seated 
in  the  minds  of  the  people,  that  to  express  a  doubt 
as  to  its  truth  was  to  be  suspected.  Whoever 
denied  the  existence  of  witches  and  devils  was 
denounced  as  an  infidel. 

They  believed  that  animals  were  often  taken 
possession  of  by  devils,  and  that  the  killing  of  the 
animal  would  destroy  the  -devil.  They  absolutely 
tried,  convicted,  and  executed  dumb  beasts. 

At  Basle,  in  1470,  a  rooster  was  tried  upon  the 
charge  of  having  laid  an  egg.  Rooster  eggs  were 
used  only  in  making  witch  ointment, —  this  every 
body  knew.  The  rooster  was  convicted  and  with 
all  due  solemnity  was  burned  in  the  public  square. 
So  a  hog  and  six  pigs  were  tried  for  having 
killed  and  partially  eaten  a  child.  The  hog  was 
•convicted, —  but  the  pigs,  on  account  probably  of 
their  extreme  youth,  were  acquitted.  As  late  as 
1 740,  a  cow  was  tried  and  convicted  of  being 
possessed  by  a  devil. 

They  used  to  exorcise  rats,  locusts,  snakes  and 
vermin.  They  used  to  go  through  the  alleys, 
streets,  and  fields,  and  warn  them  to  leave  within  a 
certain  number  of  days.  In  case  they  disobeyed, 
they  were  threatened  with  pains  and  penalties. 


THE  GHOSTS. 


But  let  us  be  careful  how  we  laugh  at  these 
things.  Let  us  not  pride  ourselves  too  much  on 
the  progress  of  our  age.  We  must  not  forget  that 
some  of  our  people  are  yet  in  the  same  intelligent 
business.  Only  a  little  while  ago,  the  governor  of 
Minnesota  appointed  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  to 
see  if  some  power  could  not  be  induced  to  kill  the 
grasshoppers,  or  send  them  into  some  other  state. 

About  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  so 
great  was  the  excitement  with  regard  to  the  exist 
ence  of  witchcraft  that  Pope  Innocent  VIII  issued 
a  bull  directing  the  inquisitors  to  be  vigilant  in 
searching  out  and  punishing  all  guilty  of  this  crime. 
Forms  for  the  trial  were  regularly  laid  down  in  a 
book  or  a  pamphlet  called  the  "MALLEUS  MALEFI- 
CORUM"  (Hammer  of  Witches),  which  was  issued 
by  the  Roman  See.  Popes  Alexander,  Leo,  and 
Adrian,  issued  like  bulls.  For  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  the  church  was  busy  in  punishing  the 
impossible  crime  of  witchcraft;  in  burning,  hanging 
and  torturing  men,  women,  and  children.  Protest 
ants  were  as  active  as  Catholics,  and  in  Geneva  five 
hundred  witches  were  burned  at  the  stake  in  a 
period  of  three  months.  About  one  thousand  were 
executed  in  one  year  in  the  diocese  of  Como.  At 


THE  GHOSTS.  23 


least  one  hundred  thousand  victims  suffered  in 
Germany  alone:  the  last  execution  ( in  Wurtzburg ) 
taking  place  as  late  as  1749.  Witches  were  burned 
in  Switzerland  as  late  as  1780. 

In  England  the  same  frightful  scenes  were 
enacted.  Statutes  were  passed  from  Henry  VI  to 
James  I,  defining  the  crime  and  its  punishment. 
The  last  act  passed  by  the  British  parliament  was 
when  Lord  Bacon  was  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Commons;  and  this  act  was  not  repealed  until 
1736. 

Sir  William  Blackstone,  in  his  Commentaries  on 
the  Laws  of  England,  says:  ''To  deny  the  pos 
sibility,  nay,  actual  existence  of  witchcraft  and 
sorcery,  is  at  once  flatly  to  contradict  the  word  of 
God  in  various  passages  both  of  the  old  and  new 
testament ;  and  the  thing  itself  is  a  truth  to  which 
every  nation  in  the  world  hath  in  its  turn  borne 
testimony,  either  by  examples  seemingly  well  at 
tested,  or  by  prohibitory  laws,  which  at  least 
suppose  the  possibility  of  a  commerce  with  evil 
spirits." 

In  Brown's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  published  at 
Edinburg,  Scotland,  in  1807,  it  is  said  that:  "A 
witch  is  a  woman  that  has  dealings  with  Satan. 


24  THE  GHOSTS. 


That  such  persons  are  among  men  is  abundantly 
plain  from  scripture,  and  that  they  ought  to  be  put 
to  death." 

This  work  was  re-published  in  Albany,  New 
York,  in  1816.  No  wonder  the  clergy  of  that  city 
are  ignorant  and  bigoted  even  unto  this  day. 

In  1716,  Mrs.  Hicks  and  her  daughter,  nine 
years  of  age,  were  hanged  for  selling  their  souls  to 
the  devil,  and  raising  a  storm  by  pulling  off  their 
stockings  and  making  a  lather  of  soap. 

In  England  it  has  been  estimated  that  at  least 
thirty  thousand  were  hanged  and  burned.  The  last 
victim  executed  in  Scotland,  perished  in  1722. 
"She  was  an  innocent  old  woman,  who  had  so  little 
idea  of  her  situation  as  to  rejoice  at  the  sight  of  the 
fire  which  was  destined  to  consume  her.  She  had 
a  daughter,  lame  both  of  hands  and  of  feet — a 
circumstance  attributed  to  the  witch  having  been 
used  to  transform  her  daughter  into  a  pony  and 
getting  her  shod  by  the  devil." 

In  1692,  nineteen  persons  were  executed  and 
one  pressed  to  death  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  for 
the  crime  of  witchcraft. 

It  was  thought  in  those  days  that  men  and 
women  made  compacts  with  the  devil,  orally  and  in 


THE  GHOSTS.  25 


writing.  That  they  abjured  God  and  Jesus  Christ, 
and  dedicated  themselves  wholly  to  the  devil.  The 
contracts  were  confirmed  at  a  general  meeting  of 
witches  and  ghosts,  over  which  the  devil  himself 
presided ;  and  the  persons  generally  signed  the 
articles  of  agreement  with  their  own  blood.  These 
contracts  were,  in  some  instances,  for  a  few  years ; 
in  others,  for  life.  General  assemblies  of  the 
witches  were  held  at  least  once  a  year,  at  which 
they  appeared  entirely  naked,  besmeared  *with  an 
ointment  made  from  the  bodies  of  unbaptizcd  in 
fants.  "To  these  meetings  they  rode  from  great 
distances  on  broomsticks,  pokers,  goats,  hogs,  and 
dogs.  Here  they  did  homage  to  the  prince  of  hell, 
and  offered  him  sacrifices  of  young  children,  and 
practiced  all  sorts  of  license  until  the  break  of 
day." 

"As  late  as  1815,  Belgium  was  disgraced  by  a 
witch  trial ;  and  guilt  was  established  by  the  water 
ordeal."  "In  1836,  the  populace  of  Hela,  near 
Dantzic,  twice  plunged  into  the  sea  a  woman 
reputed  to  be  a  sorceress ;  and  as  the  miserable 
creature  persisted  in  rising  to  the  surface,  she  was 
pronounced  guilty,  and  beaten  to  death." 

"It  was  believed  that  the  bodies  of  devils  are 


26  THE  GHOSTS. 


not  like  those  of  men  and  animals,  cast  in  an 
unchangeable  mould.  It  was  thought  they  were 
like  clouds,  refined  and  subtle  matter,  capable  of 
assuming  any  form  and  penetrating  into  any  orifice. 
The  horrible  tortures  they  endured  in  their  place  of 
punishment  rendered  them  extremely  sensitive  to 
suffering,  and  they  continually  sought  a  temperate 
and  somewhat  moist  warmth  in  order  to  allay  their 
pangs.  It  was  for  this  reason  they  so  frequently 
entered  into  men  and  women." 

The  devil  could  transport  men,  at  his  will, 
through  the  air.  He  could  beget  children ;  and 
Martin  Luther  himself  had  come  in  contact  with 
one  of  these  children.  He  recommended  the 
mother  to  throw  the  child  into  the  river,  in  order  to 
free  their  house  from  the  presence  of  a  devil. 

It  was  believed  that  the  devil  could  transform 
people  into  any  shape  he  pleased. 

Whoever  denied  these  things  was  denounced  as 
an  infidel.  All  the  believers  in  witchcraft  con 
fidently  appealed  to  the  bible.  Their  mouths  were 
filled  with  passages  demonstrating  the  existence  of 
witches  and  their  power  over  human  beings.  By 
the  bible  they  proved  that  innumerable  evil  spirits 
were  ranging  over  the  world  endeavoring  to  ruin 


THE  GHOSTS.  27 


mankind ;  that  these  spirits  possessed  a  power  and 
wisdom  far  transcending  the  limits  of  human  facul 
ties;  that  they  delighted  in  every  misfortune  that 
could  befall  the  world ;  that  their  malice  was  super 
human.  That  they  caused  tempests  was  proved  by 
the  action  of  the  devil  toward  Job ;  by  the  passage 
in  the  book  of  Revelation  describing  the  four  angels 
who  held  the  four  winds,  and  to  whom  it  was  given 
to  afflict  the  earth.  'They  believed  the  devil  could 
carry  persons  hundreds  of  miles,  in  a  few  seconds, 
through  the  air.  They  believed  this,  because  they 
knew  that  Christ  had  been  carried  by  the  devil  in 
the  same  manner  and  placed  on  a  pinnacle  of  the 
temple.  "The  prophet  Habakkuk  had'been  trans 
ported  by  a  spirit  from  Judea  to  Babylon;  and 
Philip,  the  evangelist, .  had  been  the  object  of  a 
similar  miracle ;  and  in  the  same  way  Saint  Paul 
had  been  carried  in  the  body  into  the  third 
heaven." 

"In  those  pious  days,  they. believed  that  Incubi 
and  Succubi  were  forever  wandering  among  man 
kind,  alluring,  by  more  than  human  charms,  the 
unwary  to  their  destruction,  and  laying  plots,  which 
were  too  often  successful,  against  the  virtue  of  the 
saints.  Sometimes  the  witches  kindled  in  the 


28  THE  GHOSTS. 


monastic  priest  a  more  terrestrial  fire.  People  told, 
with  bated  breath,  how,  under  the  spell  of  a  vin 
dictive  woman,  four  successive  abbots  in  a  German 
monastery  had  been  wasted  away  by  an  unholy 
flame." 

An  instance  is  given  in  which  the  devil  not  only 
assumed  the  appearance  of  a  holy  man,  in  order  to 
pay  his  addresses  to  a  lady,  but  when  discovered, 
crept  under  the  bed,  suffered  himself  to  be  dragged 
out,  and  was  impudent  enough  to  declare  that  he 
was  the  veritable  bishop.  So  perfectly  had  he 
assumed  the  form  and  features  of  the  prelate  that 
those  who  knew  the  bishop  best  were  deceived. 

One  can  hardly  imagine  the  frightful  state  of 
the  human  mind  during  these  long  centuries  of 
darkness  and  superstition.  To  them,  these  things 
were  awful  and  frightful  realities.  Hovering  above 
them  in  the  air,  in  their  houses,  in  the  bosoms  of 
friends,  in  their  very  bodies,  in  all  the  darkness  of 
night,  everywhere,  around,  above  and  below,  were 
innumerable  hosts  of  unclean  and  malignant  devils. 

From  the  malice  of  those  leering  and  vindictive 
vampires  of  the  air,  the  church  pretended  to 
defend  mankind.  Pursued  by  these  phantoms,  the 
frightened  multitudes  fell  upon  their  faces  and  im- 


THE  GHOSTS.  29 


plored  the  aid  of  robed  hypocrisy  and  sceptered 
theft. 

Take  from  the  orthodox  church  of  to-day  the 
threat  and  fear  of  hell,  and  it  becomes  an  extinct 
volcano. 

Take  from  the  church  the  miraculous,  the  super 
natural,  the  incomprehensible,  the  unreasonable, 
the  impossible,  the  unknowable,  and  the  absurd, 
and  nothing  but  a  vacuum  remains. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  infamous  things  justly 
laid  to  the  charge  of  the  church,  we  are  told  that 
the  civilization  of  to-day  is  the  child  of  what  we 
are  pleased  to  call  the  superstition  of  the  past. 

Religion  has  not  civilized  man  —  man  has  civil 
ized  religion.  God  improves  as  man  advances. 

Let  me  call  your  attention  to  what  we  have 
received  from  the  followers  of  the  ghosts.  Let  me 
give  you  an  outline  of  the  sciences  as  taught  by 
these  philosophers  of  the  clouds. 

All  diseases  were  produced,  either  as  a  punish 
ment  by  the  good  ghosts,  or  out  of  pure  malignity 
by  the  bad  ones.  There  were,  properly  speaking, 
no  diseases.  The  sick  were  possessed  by  ghosts. 
The  science  of  medicine  consisted  in  knowing  how 


30  THE  GHOSTS. 


to  persuade  these  ghosts  to  vacate  the  premises. 
For  thousands  of  years  the  diseased  were  treated 
with  incantations,  with  hideous  noises,  with  drums 
and  gongs.  Everything  was  done  to  make  the  visit 
of  the  ghost  as  unpleasant  as  possible,  and  they 
generally  succeeded  in  making  things  so  disagree 
able  that  if  the  ghost  did  not  leave,  the  patient  did. 
These  ghosts  were  supposed  to  be  of  different 
rank,  power  and  dignity.  Now  and  then  a  man 
pretended  to  have  won  the  favor  of  some  powerful 
ghost,  and  that  gave  him  power  over  the  »little 
ones.  Such  a  man  became  an  eminent  physician. 

It  was  found  that  certain  kinds  of  smoke,  such 
as  that  produced  by  burning  the  liver  of  a  fish,  the 
dried  skin  of  a  serpent,  the  eyes  of  a  toad,  or  the 
tongue  of  an  adder,  were  exceedingly  offensive  to 
the  nostrils  of  an  ordinary  ghost.  With  this 
smoke,  the  sick  room  wrould  be  filled  until  the  ghost 
vanished  or  the  patient  died. 

It  was  also  believed  that  certain  words,  —  the 
names  of  the  most  powerful  ghosts,  —  when  prop 
erly  pronounced,  were  very  effective  weapons.  It 
was  for  a  long  time  thought  that  Latin  words  were 
the  best,  —  Latin  being  a  dead  language,  and 
known  by  the  clergy.  Others  thought  that  two 


THE  GHOSTS.  31 


sticks  laid  across  each  other  and  held  before  the 
wicked  ghost  would  cause  it  instantly  to  flee  in 
dread  away. 

For  thousands  of  years,  the  practice  of  medicine 
consisted  in  driving  these  evil  spirits  out  of  the 
bodies  of  men. 

In  some  instances,  bargains  and  compromises 
were  made  with  the  ghosts.  One  case  is  given 
where  a  multitude  of  devils  traded  a  man  for  a  herd 
of  swine.  In  this  transaction  the  devils  were 
the  losers,  as  the  swine  immediately  drowned 
themselves  in  the  sea.  This  idea  of  disease 
appears  to  have  been  almost  universal,  and  is  by  no 
means  yet  extinct. 

The  contortions  of  the  epileptic,  the  strange 
twitchings  of  those  afflicted  with  .chorea,  the 
shakings  of  palsy,  dreams,  trances,  and  the  number 
less  frightful  phenomena  produced  by  diseases  of 
the  nerves,  were  all  seized  upon  as  so  many  proofs 
that  the  bodies  of  men  were  filled  with  unclean  and 
malignant  ghosts. 

Whoever  endeavored  to  account  for  these  things 
by  natural  causes,  whoever  attempted  to  cure 
diseases  by  natural  means,  was  denounced  by  the 
church  as  an  infidel.  To  explain  anything  was  a 


32  THE  GHOSTS. 


crime.  It  was  to  the  interest  of  the  priest  that  all 
phenomena  should  be  accounted  for  by  the  will  and 
power  of  gods  and  devils.  The  moment  it  is 
admitted  that  all  phenomena  are  within  the  domain 
of  the  natural,  the  necessity  for  a  priest  has 
disappeared.  Religion  breathes  the  air  of  the 
supernatural.  Take  from  the  mind  of  man  the  idea 
of  the  supernatural,  and  religion  ceases  to  exist. 
For  this  reason,  the  church  has  always  despised  the 
man  who  explained  the  wonderful.  Upon  this 
principle,  nothing  was  left  undone  to  stay  the 
science  of  medicine.  As  long  as  plagues  and  pesti 
lences  could  be  stopped  by  prayer,  the  priest  was 
useful.  The  moment  the  physician  found  a  cure, 
the  priest  became  an  extravagance.  The  moment  it 
began  to  be  apparent  that  prayer  could  do  nothing 
for  the  body,  tiie  priest  shifted  his  ground  and 
began  praying  for  the  soul. 

Long  after  the  devil  idea  was  substantially  aban 
doned  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  when  it  was 
admitted  that  God  had  nothing  to  do  with  ordinary 
coughs  and  colds,  it  was  still  believed  that  all  the 
frightful  diseases  were  sent  by  him  as  punishments 
for  the  wickedness  of  the  people.  It  was  thought  to 
be  a  kind  of  blasphemy  to  even  try,  by  any  natural 


THE  GHOSTS.  33 


means,  to  stay  the  ravages  of  pestilence.  Formerly, 
during  the  prevalence  of  plague  and  epidemics,  the 
arrogance  of  the  priest  was  boundless.  He  told 
the  people  that  they  had  slighted  the  clergy,  that 
they  had  refused  to  pay  tithes,  that  they  had 
doubted  some  of  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  and 
that  God  was  now  taking  his  revenge.  The  people 
for  the  most  part,  believed  this  infamous  tissue 
of  priestcraft.  They  hastened  to  fall  upon  their 
knees;  they  poured  out  their  wealth  upori  the 
altars  of  hypocrisy;  they  abased  and  debased 
themselves ;  from  their  minds  they  banished  all 
doubts,  and  made  haste  to  crawl  in  the  very  dust  of 
humility. 

The  church  never  wanted  disease  to  be  under 
the  control  of  man.  Timothy  Dwight,  president  of 
Yale  College,  preached  a  sermon  'against  vaccina 
tion.  His  idea  was,  that  if  God  had  decreed  from 
all  eternity  that  a  certain  man  should  die  with  the 
small-pox,  it  was  a  frightful  sin  to  avoid  and  annul 
that  decree  by  the  trick  of  vaccination.  Small-pox 
being  regarded  as  one  of  the  heaviest  guns  in  the 
arsenal  of  heaven,  to  spike  it  was  the  height  of 
presumption.  Plagues  and  pestilences  were  instru 
mentalities  in  the  hands  of  God  with  which  to 

3 


34  THE  GHOSTS. 


gain  the  love  and  worship  of  mankind.  To  find 
a  cure  for  disease  was  to  take  a  weapon  from  the 
church.  No  one  tries  to  cure  the  ague  with  prayer. 
Quinine  has  been  found  altogether  more  reliable. 
Just  as  soon  as  a  specific  is  found  for  a  disease, 
that  disease  will  be 'left  out  of  the  list  of  prayer. 
The  number  of  diseases  with  which  God  from  time 
to  time  afflicts  mankind,  is  continually  decreasing. 
In  a  few  years  all  of  them  will  be  under  the  control 
of  man,  the  gods  will v  be  left  unarmed,  and  the 
threats  of  their  priests  will  excite  only  a  smile. 

The  science  of  medicine  has  had  but  one 
enemy — religion.  Man  was  afraid  to  save  his 
body  for  fear  he  might  lose  his  soul. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  people  in  those  days 
believed  in  and  taught  the  infamous  doctrine  of 
eternal  punishment  —  a  doctrine  that  makes  God  a 
heartless  monster  and  man  a  slimy  hypocrite  and 
slave  ? 

-    v 

The  ghosts  were  historians,  and  their  histories 
were  the  grossest  absurdities.  "Tales  told  by 
idiots,  full  of  sound  and  fury,  signifying  nothing." 
In  those  days  the  histories  were  written  by  the 
monks,  who,  as  a  rule,  were  almost  as  superstitious 


THE  GHOSTS.  35 


as  they  were  dishonest.  They  wrote  as  though 
they  had  been  witnesses  of  every  occurrence  they 
related.  They  wrote  the  history  of  every  country 
of  importance.  They  told  all  -the  past  and  pre 
dicted  all  the  future  with  an  impudence  that 
amounted  to  sublimity.  "They  traced  the  order  of 
St.  Michael,  in  France,  to  the  archangel  himself, 
and  alleged  that  he  was  the  founder  of  a  chivalric 
order  in  heaven  itself.  They  said  that  Tartars 
originally  came  from  hell,  and  that  they  were  called 
Tartars  because  Tartarus  was  one  of  the  names  of 
perdition.  They  declared  that  Scotland  was  so 
named  after  Scota,  a  daughter  of  Pharaoh,  who 
landed  in  Ireland,  invaded  Scotland,  and  took  it  by 
force  of  arms.  This  statement  was  made  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  Pope  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  was  alluded  to  as  a  well-known  fact.  The 
letter  was  written  by  some  of  the  highest  digni 
taries,  and  by  the  direction  of  the  King  himself." 

These  gentlemen  accounted  for  the  red  on  the 
breasts  of  robins,  from  the  fact  that  these  birds 
carried  water  to  unbaptized  infants  in  hell. 

Matthew,  of  Paris,  an  eminent  historian  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  gave  the  world  the  following 
piece  of  information :  "  It  is  well  known  that 


36  THE  GHOSTS. 


Mohammed  was  once  a  cardinal,  and  became  a 
heretic  because  he  failed  in  his  effort  to  be  elected 
pope;"  and  that  having  drank  to  excess,  he  fell  by 
the  roadside,  and  in  this  condition  was  killed  by 
swine.  "And  for  that  reason,  his  followers  abhor 
pork  even  unto  this  day." 

Another  eminent  historian  informs  us  that  Nero 
was  in  the  habit  of  vomiting  frogs.  When  I  read 
this,  I  said  to  myself:  Some  of  the  croakers  of  the 
present  day  against  Progress  would  be  the  better 
for  such  a  vomit. 

The  history  of  Charlemagne  was  written  by 
Turpin,  of  Rheims.  He  was  a  bishop.  He  assures 
us  that  the  walls  of  a  city  fell  down  in  answer  to 
prayer.  That  there  were  giants  in  those  days  who 
could  take  fifty  ordinary  men  under  their  arms  and 
walk  away  with  them.  "With  the  greatest  of  these, 
a  direct  descendant  of  Goliath,  one  Orlando  had  a 
theological  discussion,  and  that  in  the  heat  of  the" 
debate,  when  the  giant  was  overwhelmed  with  the 
argument,  Orlando  rushed  forward  and  inflicted  a 
fatal  stab." 

The  history  of  Britain,  written  by  the  arch 
deacons  of  Monmouth  and  Oxford,  was  wonderfully 
popular.  According  to  them,  Brutus  conquered 


THE  GHOSTS.  37 


England  and  built  the  city  of  London.  During  his 
time,  it  rained  pure  blood  for  three  days.  At 
another  time,  a  monster  came  from  the  sea,  and, 
after  having  devoured  great  multitudes  of  people, 
swallowed  the  king  and  disappeared.  They  tell  us 
that  King  Arthur  was  not  born  like  other  mortals, 
but  was  the  result  of  a  magical  contrivance ;  that 
he  had  great  luck  in  killing  giants;  that  he  killed 
one  in  France  that  had  the  cheerful  habit  of  eating 
some  thirty  men  a  'day.  That  this  giant  had 
clothes  woven  of  the  beards  of  the  kings  he  had 
devoured.  To  cap  the  climax,  one  of  the  authors 
of  this  book  was  promoted  for  having  written  the 
only  reliable  history  of  his  country. 

In  all  the  histories  of  those  days  there  is  hardly 
a  single  truth.  Facts  were  considered  unworthy 
of  preservation.  Anything  that  really  happened 
was  not  of  sufficient  interest  or  importance  to  be 
recorded.  The  great  religious  historian,  Eusebeus, 
ingenuously  remarks  that  in  his  history  he  carefully 
omitted  whatever  tended  to  discredit  the  church, 
and  that  he  piously  magnified  all  that  conduced  to 
her  glory. 

The  same  glorious  principle  was  scrupulously 
adhered  to  by  all  the  historians  of  that  time. 


38  THE   GHOSTS. 


They  wrote,  and  the  people  believed,  that  the 
tracks  of  Pharoah's  chariots  were  still  visible  on 
the  sands  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  that  they  had  been 
miraculously  preserved  from  the  winds  and  waves 
as  perpetual  witnesses  of  the  great  miracle  there 
performed. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  every  truth  in  the  histories 
of  those  times  is  the  result  of  accident  or  mistake. 

They  accounted  for  everything  as  the  work  of 
good  and  evil  spirits.  With  cause  and  effect  they 
had  nothing  to  do.  Facts  were  in  no  way  related 
to  each  other.  God,  governed  by  infinite  caprice, 
filled  the  world  with  miracles  and  disconnected 
events.  From  the  quiver  of  his  hatred  came  the 
•arrows  of  famine,  pestilence,  and  death. 

The  moment  that  the  idea  is  abandoned  that  all 
is  natural ;  that  all  phenomena  are  the  necessary 
links  in  the  endless  chain  of  being,  the  conception 
of  history  becomes  impossible.  With  the  ghosts, 
the  present  is  not  the  child  of  the  past,  nor  the 
mother  of  the  future.  In  the  domain  of  religion 
all  is  chance,  accident,  and  caprice. 

Do  not  forget,  I  pray  you,  that  our  creeds  were 
written  by  the  cotemporaries  of  these  historians. 


THE  GHOSTS.  39 


The  same  idea  was  applied  to  law.  It  was 
believed  by  our  intelligent  ancestors  that  all  law 
derived  its  sacredness  and  its  binding  force  from 
the  fact  that  it  had  been  communicated  to  man  by 
the  ghosts.  Of  course  it  was  not  pretended  that 
the  ghosts  told  everybody  the  law ;  but  they  told  it 
to  a  few,  and  the  few  told  it  to  the  people,  and  the 
people,  as  a  rule,  paid  them  exceedingly  well  for 
their  trouble.  It  was  thousands  of  ages  before  the 
people  commenced  making  laws  for  themselves,  and 
strange  as  it  may  appear,  most  of  these  laws  were 
vastly  superior  to  the  ghost  article.  Through  the 
web  and  woof  of  human  legislation  began  to  run 
and  shine  and  glitter  the  golden  thread  of  justice. 

During  these  years  of  darkness  it  was  believed 
that  rather  than  see  an  act  of  injustice  done  ;  rather 
than  see  the  innocent  suffer;  rather  than  see  the 
guilty  triumph,  some  ghost  would  interfere.  This 
belief,  as  a  rule,  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the 
victorious  party,  and  as  the  other  man  was  dead, 
no  complaint  was  heard  from  him. 

This  doctrine  was  the  sanctification  of  brute 
force  and  chance.  They  had  trials  by  battle,  by 
fire,  by  water,  and  by  lot.  Persons  were  made  to 
grasp  hot  iron,  and  if  it  burned  them  their  guilt 


40  THE  GHOSTS. 


was  established.  Others,  with  tied  hands  and  feet, 
were  cast  into  the  sea,  and  if  they  sank,  the  verdict 
of  guilty  was  unanimous, —  if  they  did  not  sink, 
they  were  in  league  with  devils. 

So  in  England,  persons  charged  with  crime 
could  appeal  to  the  corsned.  The  corsned  was  a 
piece  of  the  sacramental  bread.  If  the  defendant 
could  swallow  this  piece  he  went  acquit.  Godwin, 
Earl  of  Kent,  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor, 
appealed  to  the  corsned.  He  failed  to  swallow  it 
and  was  choked  to  death. 

The  ghosts  and  their  followers  always  took 
delight  in  torture,  in  cruel  and  unusual  punish 
ments.  For  the  infraction  of  most  of  their  laws, 
death  was  the  penalty  —  death  produced  by  stoning 
and  by  fire.  Sometimes,  when  man  committed 
only  murder,  he  was  allowed  to  flee  to  some  city 
of  refuge.  Murder  was  a  crime  against  man.  But 
for  saying  certain  words,  or  denying  certain  doc 
trines,  or  for  picking  up  sticks  on  certain  days,  or 
for  worshiping  the  wrong  ghost,  or  for  failing  to 
pray  to  the  right  one,  or  for  laughing  at  a  priest,  or 
for  saying  that  wine  was  not  blood,  or  that  bread 
was  not  flesh,  or  for  failing  to  regard  ram's  horns  as 
artillery,  or  for  insisting  that  a  dry  bone  was 


THE  GHOSTS.  41 


scarcely  sufficient  to  take  the  place  of  water  works, 
or  that  a  raven,  as  a  rule,  made  a  poor  landlord:  — 
death,  produced  by  all  the  ways  that  the  ingenuity 
of  hatred  could  devise,  was  the  penalty. 

Law  is  a  groxvth —  it  is  a  science.  Right  and 
wrong  exist  in  the  nature  of  things.  Things  are 
not  right  because  they  are  commanded,  nor  wrong 
because  they  are  prohibited.  There  are  real  crimes 
enough  without  creating  artificial  ones.  All  prog 
ress  in  legislation  has  for  centuries  consisted  in 
repealing  the  laws  of  the  ghosts. 

The  idea  of  right  and  wrong  is  born  of  man's 
capacity  to  enjoy  and  suffer.  If  man  could  not 
suffer,  if  he  could. not  inflict  injury  upon  his  fellow, 
if  he  could  neither  feel  nor  inflict  pain,  the  idea  of 
right  and  wrong  never  would  have  entered  his 
brain.  But  for  this,  the  word  conscience  never 
would  have  passed  the  lips  of  man. 

There  is  one  good  —  happiness.  There  is  but 
one  sin  —  selfishness.  All  law  should  be  for  the 
preservation  of  the  one  and  the  destruction  of  the 
other. 

Under  the  regime  of  the  ghosts,  laws  were  not 
supposed  to  exist  in  the  nature  of  things!  They 
were  supposed  to  be  simply  the  irresponsible  com- 


42  THE  GHOSTS. 


mand  of  a  ghost.  These  commands  were  not 
supposed  to  rest  upon  reason,  they  were  the 
product  of  arbitrary  will. 

The  penalties  for  the  violation  of  these  laws 
were  as  cruel  as  the  laws  were  senseless  and 
absurd.  Working  on  the  Sabbath  and  murder 
were  both  punished  with  death.  The  tendency  of 
such  laws  is  'to  blot  from  the  human  heart  the  sense 
of  justice. 

To  show  you  how  perfectly  every  department  of 
knowledge,  or  ignorance  rather,  was  saturated  with 
superstition,  I  will  for  a  moment  refer  to  the  science 
of  language. 

It  was  thought  by  our  fathers,  that  Hebrew  was 
the  original  language ;  that  it  was  taught  to  Adam 
in  the  Garden  of  Eden  by  the  Almighty,  and  that 
consequently  all  languages  came  from,  and  could 
be  traced  to,  the  Hebrew.  Every  fact  inconsistent 
with  that  idea  was  discarded.  According  to  the 
ghosts,  the  trouble  at  the  tower  of  Babel  accounted 
for  the  fact  that  all  people  did  not  speak  Hebrew. 
The  Babel  business  settled  all  questions  in  the 
science  of  language. 

After  a  time,  so  many  facts  were  found  to  be 


THE  GHOSTS.  43 


inconsistent  with  the  Hebrew  idea  that  it  began  to 
fall  into  disrepute,  and  other  languages  began  to 
compete  for  the  honor  of  being  the  original. 

Andre  Kempe,  in  1569,  published  a  work  on  the 
language  of  Paradise,  in  which  he  maintained  that 
God  spoke  to  Adam  in  Swedish ;  that  Adam 
answered. in  Danish;  and  that  the  serpent  —  which 
appears  to  me  quite  probable  —  spoke  to  Eve  in 
French.  Erro,  in  a  work  published  at  Madrid, 
took  the  ground  that  Basque  was  the  language 
spoken  in  the  Garden  of  Eden;  but  in  1580 
Goropius  published  his  celebrated  work  at  Ant 
werp,  in  which  he  put  the  whole  matter  at  rest  by 
showing,  beyond  all  doubt,  that  the  language 
spoken  in  Paradise  was  neither  more  nor  less  than 
plain  Holland  Dutch. 

The  real  founder  of  the  science  of  language 
was  Liebnitz,  a  cotemporary  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton. 
He  discarded  the  idea  that  all  languages  could  be 
traced  to  one  language.  He  maintained  that 
language  was  a  natural  growth.  Experience 
teaches  us  that  this  must  be  so.  Words  are 
continually  dying  and  continually  being  born. 
Words  are  naturally  and  necessarily  produced. 
Words  are  the  garments  of  thought,  the  robes  of 


44  THE  GHOSTS. 


ideas.  Some  are  as  rucle  as  the  skins  of  wild 
beasts,  and  others  glisten  and  glitter  like  silk  and 
gold.  They  have  been  bora  of  hatred  and 
revenge;  of  love,  and  self-sacrifice;  of  hope  and 
fear,  of  agony  and  joy.  These  words  are  born  of 
the  terror  and  beauty  of  nature.  The  stars  have 
fashioned  them.  In  them  mingle  the  darkness  and 
the  dawn.  From  everything  they  have  taken 
something.  Words  are  the  crystalizations  of 
human  history,  of  all  that  man  has  enjoyed  and 
and  suffered  —  his  victories  and  defeats  —  all  that 
he  has  lost  and  won.  Words  are  the  shadows  of 
all  that  has  been  —  the  mirrors  of  all  that  is. 

The  ghosts  also  enlightened  our  fathers  in 
astronomy  and  geology.  According  to  them  the 
earth  was  made  out  of  nothing,  and  a  little  more 
nothing  having  been  taken  than  was  used  in  the 
construction  of  this  world,  the  stars  were  made  out 
of  what  was  left  over.  Cosmos,  in  the  sixth 
century,  taught  that  the  stars  were  impelled  by 
angels,  who  either  carried  them  on  their  shoulders, 
rolled  them  in  front  of  them,  or  drew  them  after. 
He  also  taught  that  each  angel  that  pushed  a  star 
took  great  pains  to  observe  what  the  other  angels 
were  doing,  so  that  the  relative  distances  between 


THE  GHOSTS.  45 


the  stars  might  always  remain  the  same.  He  also 
gave  his  idea  as  to  the  form  of  the  world. 

He  stated  that  the  world  was  a  vast  p^rallelo- 
gram ;  that  on  the  outside  was  a  strip  of  land, 
like  the  frame  of  a  common  slate ;  that  then  there 
was  a  strip  of  water,  and  in  the  middle  a  great 
piece  of  land ;  that  Adam  and  Eve  lived  on  the 
outer  strip;  that  their  descendants,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  the  Noah  family,  were  drowned  by  a  flood 
on  this  outer  strip ;  that  the  ark  finally  rested  on 
the  middle  piece  of  land  where  we  now  are.  He 
accounted  for  night  and  day  by  saying  that  on  the 
outside  strip  of  land  there  was  a  high  mountain, 
around  which  the  sun  and  moon  revolved,  and 
that  when  the  sun  was  on  the  other  side  of  the 
mountain,  it  was  night;  and  when  on  this  side,  it 
was  day. 

He  also  declared  that  the  earth  was  flat.  This 
he  proved  by  many  passages  from  the  bible. 
Among  other  reasons  for  believing-  the  earth  to 
be  flat,  he  brought  forward  the  following:  We  are 
told  in  the  new  testament  that  Christ  shall  come 
again  in  glory  and  power,  and  all  the  world  shall 
see  him.  Now,  if  the  world  is  round,  how  are  the 
people  on  the  other  side  going  to  see  Christ  when 


46  THE  GHOSTS. 


he  comes?  That  settled  the  question,  and  the 
church  not  only  endorsed  the  book,  but  declared 
that  whoever  believed  less  or  more  than  stated  by 
Cosmos,  was  a  heretic. 

In  those  blessed  days,  Ignorance  was  a  king 
and  Science  an  outcast. 

They  knew  the  moment  this  earth  ceased  to  be 
the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  became  a  mere 
speck  in  the  starry  heaven  of  existence,  that  their 
religion  would  become  a  childish  fable  of  the  past. 

In  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  ghosts, 
men  enslaved  their  fellow  men ;  they  trampled  upon 
the  rights  of  women  and  children.  In  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  ghosts,  they  bought  and 
sold  and  destroyed  each  other ;  they  filled  heaven 
with  tyrants  and  earth  with  slaves,  the  present  with 
despair  and  the  future  with  horror.  In  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  ghosts,  they  imprisoned 
the  human  mind,  polluted  the  conscience,  hardened 
the  heart,  subverted  justice,  crowned  robbery, 
sainted  hypocrisy,  and  extinguished  for  a  thousand 
years  the  torch  of  reason. 

I  have  endeavored,  in  some  faint  degree,  to 
show  you  what  has  happened,  and  what  always  will 
happen  when  men  are  governed  by  superstition  and 


THE  GHOSTS.  47 


fear;  when  they  desert  the  sublime  standard  of 
reason ;  when  they  take  the  words  of  others  and  do 
not  investigate  for  themselves. 

Even  the  great  men  of  those  days  were  nearly 
as  weak  in  this  matter  as  the  most  ignorant. 
Kepler,  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  world,  an 
astronomer  second  to  none,  although  he  plucked 
from  the  stars  the  secrets  of  the  universe,  was  an 
astrologer,  and  really  believed  that  he  could  predict 
the  career  of  a  man  by  finding  what  star  was  in  the 
ascendant  at  his  birth.  This  great  man  breathed, 
so  to  speak,  the  atmosphere  of  his  time.  He 
believed  in  the  music  of  the  spheres,  and  assigned 
alto,  bass,  tenor,  and  treble  to  certain  stars. 

Tycho  Brahe,  another  astronomer,  kept  an  idiot, 
whose  disconnected  and  meaningless  words  he 
carefully  set  down,  and  then  put  them  together  in 
such  manner  as  to  make  prophecies,  and  then 
waited  patiently  to  see  them  fulfilled.  Luther 
believed  that  he  had  actually  seen  the  devil,  and 
had  discussed  points  of  theology  with  him.  The 
human  mind  was  in  chains.  Every  idea  almost  was 
a  monster.  Thought  was  deformed.  Facts  were 
looked  upon  as  worthless.  Only  the  wonderful  was 
worth  preserving.  Things  that  actually  happened 


48  THE  GHOSTS. 


were  not  considered  worth  recording ;  —  real  occur 
rences  were  too  common.  Everybody  expected 
the  miraculous. 

The  ghosts  were  supposed  to  be  busy;  devils 
were  thought  to  be  the  most  industrious  things  in 
the  universe,  and  with  these  imps,  every  occurrence 
of  an  unusual  character  was  in  some  way  connected. 
There  was  no  order,  no  serenity,  no  certainty  in 
anything.  Everything  depended  upon  ghosts  and 
phantoms.  Man  was,  for  the  most  part,  at  the 
mercy  of  malevolent  spirits.  He  protected  himself 
as  best  he  could  with  holy  water  and  tapers  and 
wafers  and  cathedrals.  He  made  noises  and  rung 
bells  to  frighten  the  ghosts,  and  he  made  music 
to  charm  them.  He  used  smoke  to  choke  them, 
and  incense  to  please  them.  He  wore  beads  and 
crosses.  He  said  prayers,  and  hired  others  to  say 
them.  He  fasted  when  he  was  hungry,  and  feasted 
when  he  was  not.  He  believed  everything  that 
seemed  unreasonable,  just  to  appease  the  ghosts. 
He  humbled  himself.  He  crawled  in  the  dust. 
He  shut  the  doors  and  windows,  and  excluded 

every  ray  of  light  from   the   temple  of  the  soul. 

• 
He    debauched   and   polluted    his   own    mind,  and 

toiled  night  and  day  to  repair  the  walls  of  his  own 


THE  GHOSTS.  49 


prison.  From  the  garden  of  his  heart  he  plucked 
and  trampled  upon  the  holy  flowers  of  pity. 

The  priests  reveled  in  horrible  descriptions 
of  hell.  Concerning  the  wrath  of  God,  they 
grew  eloquent.  They  denounced  man  as  totally 
depraved.  They  made  reason  blasphemy,  and 
pity  a  crime.  Nothing  so  delighted  them  as 
painting  the  torments  and  sufferings  of  the  lost. 
Over  the  worm  that  never  dies  they  grew  poetic; 
and  the  second  death  filled  them  with  a  kind  of 
holy  delight.  According  to  them,  the  smoke  and 
cries  ascending  from  hell  were  the  perfume  and 
music  of  heaven. 

At  the  risk  of  being  tiresome,  I  have  said  what 
I  have  to  show  you  the  productions  of  the  human 
mind,  when  enslaved ;  the  effects  of  wide-spread 
ignorance  —  the  results  of  fear.  I  want  to  convince 
you  that  every  form  of  slavery  is  a  viper,  that, 
sooner  or  later,  will  strike  its  poison  fangs  into  the 
bosoms  of  men. 

The  first  great  step  towards  progress,  is,  for 
man  to  cease  to  be  the  slave  of  man ;  the  second, 
to  cease  to  be  the  slave  of  the  monsters  of  his  own 
creation — of  the  ghosts  and  phantoms  of  the  air. 

For   ages    the    human    race    was    imprisoned. 


50  THE  GHDSTS. 


Through  the  bars  and  grates  came  a  few  struggling 
rays  of  light.  Against  these  grates  and  bars 
Science  pressed  its  pale  and  thoughtful  face,  wooed 
by  the  holy  dawn  of  human  advancement. 

Men  found  that  the  real  was  the  useful;  that 
what  a  man  knows  is  better  than  what  a  ghost 
says;  that  an  event  is  more  valuable  than  a 
prophecy.  They  found  that  diseases  were  not 
produced  by  spirits,  and  could  not  be  cured  by 
frightening  them  away.  They  found  that  death 
was  as  natural  as  life.  They  began  to  study  the 
anatomy  and  chemistry  of  the  human  body,  and 
found  that  all  was  natural  and  within  the  domain 
of  law. 

The  conjurer  and  sorcerer  were  discarded,  and 
the  physician  and  surgeon  employed.  They  found 
that  the  earth  was  not  flat ;  that  the  stars  were  not 
mere  specks.  They  found  that  being  born  under  a 
particular  planet  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
fortunes  of  men. 

The  astrologer  was  discharged  and  the  astron 
omer  took  his  place. 

They  found  that  the  earth  had  swept  through 
the  constellations  for  millions  of  ages.  They 
found  that  good  and  evil  were  produced  by  natural 


THE  GHOSTS.  51 


causes,  and  not  by  ghosts ;  that  man  could  not  be 
good  enough  or  bad  enough  to  stop  or  cause  a 
rain ;  that  diseases  were  produced  as  naturally  as 
grass,  and  were  not  sent  as  punishments  upon 
man  for  failing  to  believe  a  certain  creed.  They 
found  that  man,  through  intelligence,  could  take 
advantage  of  the  forces  of  nature  —  that  he  could 
make  the  waves,  the  winds,  the  flames,  and  the 
lightnings  of  heaven  do  his  bidding  and  minister  to 
his  wants.  They  found  that  the  ghosts  knew 
nothing  of  benefit  to  man ;  that  they  were  utterly 
ignorant  of  geology  —  of  astronomy  —  of  geogra 
phy; —  that  they  knew  nothing  of  history;  —  that 
they  were  poor  doctors  and  worse  surgeons;  —  that 
they  knew  nothing  of  law  and  less  of  justice ; 
that  they  were  without  brains,  and  utterly  destitute 
of  hearts ;  that  they  knew  nothing  of  the  rights  of 
men ;  that  they  were  despisers  of  women,  the . 
haters  of  progress,  the  enemies  of  science,  and  the 
destroyers  of  liberty. 

The  condition  of  the  world  during  the  Dark 
Ages  shows  exactly  the  result  of  enslaving  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  men.  In  those  days  there  was 
no  freedom.  Labor  was  despised,  and  a  laborer 


52  THE  GHOSTS. 


was  considered  but  little  above  a  beast.  Ignorance, 
like  a  vast  cowl,  covered  the  brain  of  the  world, 
and  superstition  ran  riot  with  the  imagination  of 
man.  The  air  was  filled  with  angels,  with  demons 
and  monsters.  Credulity  sat  upon  the  throne  of 
the  soul,  and  Reason  was  an  exiled  king.  A  man 
to  be  distinguished  must  be  a  soldier  or  a  monk. 
War  and  theology,  that  is  to  say,  murder  and 
hypocrisy,  were  the  principal  employments  of  man. 
Industry  was  a  slave,  theft  was  commerce  ;  murder 
was  war,  hypocrisy  was  religion. 

Every  Christian  country  maintained  that  it  was 
no  robbery  to  take  the  property  of  Mohammedans 
by  force,  and  no  murder  to  kill  the  owners.  Lord 
Bacon  was  the  first  man  of  note  who  maintained 
that  a  Christian  country  was  bound  to  keep  its 
plighted  faith  with  an  infidel  nation.'  Reading  and 
writing  were  considered  dangerous  arts.  Every 
layman  who  could  read  and  write  was  suspected  of 
Being  a  heretic.  All  thought  was  discouraged. 
They  forged  chains  of  superstition  for  the  minds, 
and  manacles  of  iron  for  the  bodies  of  men.  The 
earth  was  ruled  by  the  cowl  and  sword, —  by  the 
mitre  and  scepter, —  by  the  altar  and  throne, —  by 
Fear  and  Force, —  by  Ignorance  and  Faith, —  by 
ghouls  and  ghosts. 


THE  GHOSTS.  53 


In  the  fifteenth  century  the  following  law  was 
in  force  in  England: 

"That  whosoever  reads  the  scriptures  in  the 
mother  tongue,  shall  forfeit  land,  cattle,  life,  and 
goods  from  their  heirs  forever,  and  so  be  condemned 
for  heretics  to  God,  enemies  to  the  crown,  and 
most  arrant  traitors  to  the  land." 

During  the  first  year  this  law  was  in  force  thirty- 
nine  were  hanged  for  its  violation  and  their  bodies 
burned. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  men  were  burned  be 
cause  they  failed  to  kneel  to  a  procession  of  monks. 

The  slightest  word  uttered  against  the  supersti 
tion  of  the  time  was  punished  with  death. 

Even  the  reformers,  so  called,  of  those  days, 
had  no  idea  of  intellectual  liberty  —  no  idea  even 
of  toleration.  Luther,  Knox,  Calvin,  believed'  in 
religious  liberty  only  when  they  were  in  the  minor 
ity.  The  moment  they  were  clothed  with  power 
they  began  to  exterminate  with  fire  and  sword. 

Castellio  was  the  first  minister  who  advocated 
the  liberty  of  the  soul.  He  was  regarded  by  the 
reformers  as  a  criminal,  and  treated  as  though  he 
had  committed  the  crime  of  crimes. 

Bodinus,  a  lawyer  of  France,  about  the  same 


54  THE  GHOSTS. 


time,  wrote  a  few  words  in  favor  of  the  freedom  of 
conscience,  but  public  opinion  was  overwhelmingly 
against  him.  The  people  were  ready,  anxious,  and 
willing,  with  whip,  and  chain,  and  fire,  to  drive 
from  the  mind  of  man  the  heresy  that  he  had  a 
right  to  think. 

Montaigue,  a  man  blest  with  so  much  common 
sense  that  he  was  the  most  uncommon  man  of  his 
time,  was  the  first  to  raise  a  voice  against  torture 
in  France.  But  what  was  the  voice  of  one  man 
against  the  terrible  cry  of  ignorant,  infatuated,  su 
perstitious  and  malevolent  millions?  It  was  the 
cry  of  a  drowning  man  in  the  wild  roar  of  the  cruel 
sea. 

In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  brave  few  the  in 
famous  war  against  the  freedom  of  the  soul  was 
waged  until  at  least  one  hundred  millions  of  human 
beings  —  fathers,  mothers,  brothers,  sisters  —  with 
hopes,  loves,  and  aspirations  like  ourselves,  were 
sacrificed  upon  the  cruel  altar  of  an  ignorant  faith. 
They  perished  in  every  way  by  which  death  can  be 
produced.  Every  nerve  of  pain  was  sought  out 
and  touched  by  the  believers  in  ghosts. 

For  my  part  I  glory  in  the  fact,  that  here  in 
the  new  world, — in  the  United  States, —  liberty  of 


THE  GHOSTS.  55 


conscience  was  first  guaranteed  to  man,  and  that 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  the  first 
great  decree  entered  in  the  high  court  of  human 
equity  forever  divorcing  Church  and  State, —  the 
first  injunction  granted  against  the  interference  of 
the  ghosts.  This  was  one  of  the  grandest  steps 
ever  taken  by  the  human  race  in  the  direction  of 
Progress. 

You   will  ask  what  has   caused  this  wonderful 

• 

change  in  three  hundred  years.  And  I  answer  — 
the  inventions  and  discoveries  of  the  few;  —  the 
brave  thoughts,  the  heroic  utterances  of  the  few; 
—  the  acquisition  of  a  few  facts. 

Besides,  you  must  remember  that  every  wrong 
in  some  way  tends  to  abolish  itself.  It  is  hard  to 
make  a  lie  stand  always.  A  lie  will  not  fit  a  fact. 
It  will  only  fit  another  lie  made  for  the  purpose. 
The  life  of  a  lie  is  simply  a  question  of  time. 
Nothing  but  truth  is  immortal.  The  nobles  and 
kings  quarreled;  —  the  priests  began  to  dispute; — 
the  ideas  of  government  began  to  change. 

In  1441  printing  was  discovered.  At  that  time 
the  past  was  a  vast  cemetery  with  hardly  an 
epitaph.  The  ideas  of  men  had  mostly  perished 
in  the  brain  that  produced  them.  The  lips  of  the 


56  THE  GHOSTS. 


human  race  had  been  sealed.  Printing  gave 
pinions  to  thought.  It  preserved  ideas.  *  It  made 
it  possible  for  man  to  bequeath  to  the  future  the 
riches  of  his  brain,  the  wealth  of  his  soul.  At 
first,  it  was  used  to  flood  the  world  with  the 
mistakes  of  the  ancients,  but  since  that  time  it  has 
been  flooding  the  iworld  with  light. 

When  people  read  they  begin  to  reason,  and 
when  they  reason  they  progress.  This  was  another 
grand  step  in  the  direction  of  Progress. 

The  discovery  of  powder,  that  put  the  peasant 
almost  upon  a  par  with  the  prince;  —  that  put  an 
end  to  the  so-called  age  of  chivalry; — that  released 
avast  number  of  men  from  the  armies;  —  that  gave 
pluck  and  nerve  a  chance  with  brute  strength. 

The  discovery  of  America,  whose  shores  were 
trod  by  the  restless  feet  of  adventure ; — that 
brought  people  holding  every  shade  of  superstition 
together; — that  gave  the  world  an  opportunity  to 
compare  notes,  and  to  laugh  at  the  follies  of  each 
other.  Out  of  this  strange  mingling  of  all  creeds, 
and  superstitions,  and  facts,  and  theories,  and 
countless  opinions,  came  the  Great  Republic. 

Every  fact  has  pushed  a  superstition  from  the 
brain  and  a  ghost  from  the  clouds.  Every  me- 


THE  GHOSTS.  57 


chanic  art  is  an  educator.  Every  loom,  every 
reaper  and  mower,  every  steamboat,  every  locomo 
tive,  every  engine,  every  press,  every  telegraph,  is 
a  missionary  of  Science  and  an  apostle  of  Progress. 
Every  mill,  every  furnace,  every  building  with  its 
wheels  and  levers,  in  which  something  is  made  for 
the  convenience,  for  the  use,  and  for  the  comfort 
and  elevation  of  man,  is  a  church,  and  every  school 
house  is  a  temple. 

Education  is  the  most  radical  thing  in  the  world. 

To  teach  the  alphabet  is  to  inaugurate  a  revo 
lution. 

To  build  a  school  house  is  to  construct  a  fort. 

Every  library  is  an  arsenal  filled  with  the 
weapons  and  ammunition  of  Progress,  and  every 
fact  is  a  monitor  with  sides  of  iron  and  a  turret  of 
steel. 

I  thank  the  inventors,  the  discoverers,  the 
thinkers.  I  thank  Columbus  and  Magellan.  I 
thank  Galileo,  and  Copernicus,  and  Kepler,  and 
Des  Cartes,  and  Newton,  and  Lax  Place.  I  thank 
Locke,  and  Hume,  and  Bacon,  and  Shakespeare, 
and  Kant,  and  Fichte,  and  Liebnitz,  and  Goethe. 
I  thank  Fulton,  and  Watts,  and  Volta,  and  Galvani, 
and  Franklin,  and  Morse,  who  made  lightning  the 


53  THE  GHOSTS. 


messenger  of  man.  I  thank  Humboldt,  the 
Shakespeare  of  science.  I  thank  Crompton  and 
Arkwright,  from  whose  brains  leaped  the  looms 
and  spindles  that  clothe  the  world.  I  thank 
Luther  for  protesting  against  the  abuses  of  the 
church,  and  I  denounce  him  because  he  was  the 
enemy  of  liberty.  I  thank  Calvin  for  writing  a 
book  in  favor  of  religious  freedom,  and  I  abhor 
him  because  he  burned  Servetus.  I  thank  Knox 
for  resisting  episcopal  persecution,  and  I  hate 
him  because  he  persecuted  in  his  turn.  I  thank 
the  Puritans  for  saying  "Resistance  to  tyrants 
is  obedience  to  God,"  and  yet  I  am  compelled 
to  say  that  they  were  tyrants  themselves.  I  thank 

Thomas  Paine  because  he  was  a  believer  in  liberty, 

• 
and  because  he  did  as  much  to  make  my  country 

free  as  any  other  human  being.  I  thank  Voltaire, 
that  great  man  who,  for  half  a  century,  was  the 
intellectual  emperor  of  Europe,  and  who,  from  his 
throne  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps,  pointed  the  finger 
of  scorn  at  every  hypocrite  in  Christendom.  I 
thank  Darwin,  Haeckel  and  Buchner,  Spenser, 
Tyndall  and  Huxley,  Draper,  Leckey  and  Buckle. 
I  thank  the  inventors,  the  discoverers,  the 
thinkers,  the  scientists,  the  explorers.  I  thank 
the  honest  millions  who  have  toiled. 


THE  GH-OSTS.  59 


I  thank  the  brave  men  with  brave  thoughts. 
They  are  the  Atlases  upon  whose  broad  and  mighty 
shoulders  rests  the  grand  fabric  of  civilization. 
They  are  the  men  who  have  broken,  and  are  still 
breaking,  the  chains  of  Superstition.  They  are  the 
Titans  who  carried  Olympus  by  assault,  and  who 
will  soon  stand  victors  upon  Sinai's  crags. 

We  are  beginning  to  learn  that  to  exchange  a 
mistake  for  the  truth — a  superstition  for  a  fact  — 
to  ascertain  the  real  —  is  to  progress. 

Happiness  is  the  only  possible  good,  and  all 
that  tends  to  the  happiness  of  man  is  right,  and  is 
of  value.  All  that  tends  to  develop  the  bodies  and 
minds  of  men ;  all  that  gives  us  better  houses,  bet 
ter  clothes,  better  food,  better  pictures,  grander 
music,  better  heads,  better  hearts ;  all  that  renders 
us  more  intellectual  and  more  loving,  nearer  just; 
that  makes  us  better  husbands  and  wives,  better 
children,  tetter  citizens  —  all  these  things  combined 
produce  what  I  call  Progress. 

Man  advances  only  as  he  overcomes  the  ob 
structions  of  Nature,  and  this  can  be  done  only  by 
labor  and  by  thought.  Labor  is  the  foundation  of 
all.  Without  labor,  and  without  great  labor,  prog- 


60  THE  GHOSTS. 

ress  is  impossible.  The  progress  of  the  world 
depends  upon  the  men  who  walk  in  the  fresh  fur 
rows  and  through  the  rustling  corn ;  upon  those 
who  sow  and  reap ;  upon  those  whose  faces  are 
radiant  with  the  glare  of  furnace  fires ;  upon  the 
delvers  in  the  mines,  and  the  workers  in  shops ; 
upon  those  who  give  to  the  winter  air  the  ringing 
music  of  the  axe ;  upon  those  who  battle  with  the 
boisterous  billows  of  the  sea;'  upon  the  inventors 
and  discoverers ;  upon  the  brave  thinkers. 

From  the  surplus  produced  by  labor,  schools 
and  universities  are  built  and  fostered.  From  this 
surplus  the  painter  is  paid  for  the  productions  of 
the  pencil ;  the  sculptor  for  chiseling  shapeless  rock 
into  forms  divinely  beautiful,  and  the  poet  for  sing 
ing  the  hopes,  the  loves,  the  memories,  and  the 
.aspirations  of  the  world.  This  surplus  has  given 
us  the  books  in  which  we  converse  with  the  dead 
and  living  kings  of  the  human  race.  It  has  given 
us  all  there  is  of  beauty,  of  elegance,  and  of  re 
fined  happiness. 

I  am  aware  that  there  is  a  vast  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  what  progress  really  is ;  that  many 
denounce  the  ideas  of  to-day  as  destructive  of  all 
happiness — of  all  good.  I  know  that  there  are 


THE  GHOSTS.  61 


many  worshipers  of  the  past.  They  venerate  the 
ancient  because  it  is  ancient.  They  see  no  beauty 
in  anything  from  which  they  do  not  blow  the  dust 
of  ages  with  the  breath  of  praise.  They  say,  no 
masters  like  the  old ;  no  religion,  no  governments 
like  the  ancient ;  no  orators,  no  poets,  no  statesmen 
like  those  who  have  been  dust  for  two  thousand 
years.  Others  love  the  modern  simply  because 
it  is  modern. 

We  should  have  gratitude  enough  to  acknowl 
edge  the  obligations  we  are  under  to  the  great 
and  heroic  of  antiquity,  and  independence  enough 
not  to  believe  what  they  said  simply  because  they 
said  it. 

With  the  idea  that  labor  is  the  basis  of  progress 
goes  the  truth  that  labor  must  be  free.  The 
laborer  must  be  a  free  man. 

The  free  man,  working  for  wife  and  child,  gets 
his  head  and  hands  in  partnership. 

To  do  the  greatest  amount  of  work  in  the 
shortest  space  of  time,  is  the  problem  of  free  labor. 

Slavery  does  the  least  work  in  the  longest  space 
of  time. 

Free  labor  will  give  us  wealth.  Free  thought 
will  give  us  truth. 


62  THE  GHOSTS. 


Slowly  but  surely  man  is  freeing  his  imagination 
of  these  sexless  phantoms,  of  these  cruel  ghosts. 
Slowly  but  surely  he  is  rising  above  the  super 
stitions  of  the  past.  He  is  learning  to  rely  upon 
himself.  He  is  beginning  to  find  that  labor  is  the 
only  prayer  that  ought  to  be  answered,  and  that 
hoping,  toiling,  aspiring,  suffering  men  and  women 
are  of  more  importance  than  all  the  ghosts  that 
ever  wandered  through  the  fenceless  fields  of 
space. 

The  believers  in  ghosts  claim  still,  that  they  are 
the  only  wise  and  virtuous  people  upon  the  earth  ; 
claim  stffl,  that  there  is  a  difference  between  them 
and  unbelievers  so  vast,  that  they  will  be  infinitely 
rewarded,  and  the  others  infinitely  punished. 
\  I  ask  you  to-night,  do  the  theories  and  doctrines 
of  the  theologians  satisfy  the  heart  or  brain  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century? 

Have  the  churches  the  confidence  of  mankind  ? 

Does  the  merchant  give  credit  to  a  man  because 
he  belongs  to  a  church? 

Does  the  banker  loan  money  to  a  man  because 
he  is  a  Methodist  or  Baptist? 

Will  a  certificate  of  good  standing  in  any  church 
be  taken  as  collateral  security  for  one  dollar? 


THE  GHOSTS. 


Will  you  take  the  word  of  a  church  member,  or 
his  note,  or  his  oath,  simply  because  he  is  a  church 
member? 

Are  the  clergy,  as  a  class,  better,  kinder  and 
more  generous  to  their  families — to  their  fellow-men 

—  than  doctors,  lawyers,  merchants  and  farmers? 

Does  a  belief  in  ghosts  and  unreasonable  things 
necessarily  make  people  honest?- 

When  a  man  loses  confidence  in  Moses,  must 
the  people  lose  confidence  in  him? 

Does  not  the  credit  system  in  morals  breed 
extravagance  in  sin? 

Why  send  missionaries  to  other  lands  while 
every  penitentiary  in  ours  is  filled  with  criminals  ? 

Is  it  philosophical  to  say  that  they  who  do  right 
carry  a  cross  ? 

Is  it  a  source  of  joy  to  think  that  perdition  is 
the  destination  of  nearly  all  of  the  children  of  men  ? 

Is   it  worth  while    to  quarrel  about  original  sin 

—  when  there  is  so  much  copy? 

Does  it  pay  to  dispute  about  baptism,  and  the 
trinity,  and  predestination,  and  apostolic  succession 
and  the  infallibility  of  churches,  of  popes  and  of 
books?  Does  all  this  do  any  good? 


64  THE  GHOSTS. 


Are  the  theologians  welcomers  of  new  truths? 
Are  they  noted  for  their  candor?  Do  they  treat 
an  opponent  with  common  fairness?  Are  they 
investigators?  Do  they  pull  forward,  or  do  they 
hold  back? 

Is  science  indebted  to  the  church  for  a  solitary 
fact? 

What  church  is  an  asylum  for  a  persecuted 
truth  ? 

What  great  reform  has  been  inaugurated  by  the 
church  ? 

Did  the  church  abolish  slavery? 

Has  the  church  raised  its  voice  against  war? 

I  used  to  think  that  there  was  in  religion  no  real 
restraining  force.  Upon  this  point  my  mind  has 
changed.  Religion  will  prevent  man  from  com 
mitting  artificial  crimes  and  offenses. 

A  man  committed  murder.  The  evidence  was 
so  conclusive  that  he  confessed  his  guilt. 

He  was  asked  why  he  killed  his  fellow-man. 

He  replied :  "  For  money." 

"Did  you  get  any?" 

"Yes." 

"  How  much?" 

"  Fifteen  cents." 


THE  GHOSTS.  65 


"  What  did  you  do  with  this  money? " 
"Spent  it." 
"What  for?" 
"Liquor." 

"What  else  did  you  find  upon  the  dead  man?" 
"He  had  his  dinner  in  a  bucket — some  meat 
and  bread." 

"What  did  you  do  with  that?" 

"I  ate  the  bread." 

"What  did  you  do  with  the  meat?" 

"  I  threw  it  away." 

"Why?" 

"  It  was  Friday." 

Just  to  the  extent  that  man  has  freed  himself 
from  the  dominion  of  ghosts  he  has  advanced.  Just 
to  the  extent  that  he  has  freed  himself  from  the 
tyrants  of  his  own  creation  he  has  progressed. 
Just  to  the  extent  that  he  has  investigated  for  him 
self  he  has  lost  confidence  in  superstition. 

With  knowledge  obedience  becomes  intelligent 
acquiescence — it  is  no  longer  degrading.  Acquies 
cence  in  the  understood  —  in  the  known  —  is  the 
act  of  a  sovereign,  not  of  a  slave.  It  ennobles,  it 
does  not  degrade. 

5 


66  THE  GHOSTS. 


Man  has  found  that  he  must  give  liberty  to 
others  in  order  to  have  it  himself.  He  has  found 
that  a  master  is  also  a  slave; — that  a  tyrant  is  him 
self  a  serf.  He  has  found  that  governments  should 
be  founded  and  administered  by  man  and  for 
man ;  that  the  rights  of  all  are  equal ;  that  the 
powers  that  be  are  not  ordained  by  God ;  that 
woman  is  at  least  the  equal  of  man ;  that  men  ex 
isted  before  books;  that  religion  is  one  of  the 
phases  of  thought  through  which  the  world  is  pass 
ing  ;  that  all  creeds  were  made  by  man ;  that  every 
thing  is  natural ;  that  a  miracle  is  an  impossibility ; 
that  we  know  nothing  of  origin  and  destiny ;  that 
concerning  the  unknown  we  are  all  equally  igno 
rant  ;  that  the  pew  has  the  right  to  contradict  what 
the  pulpit  asserts ;  that  man  is  responsible  only  to 
himself  and  those  he  injures,  and  that  all  have  a 
right  to  think. 

True  religion  must  be  free.  Without  perfect 
liberty  of  the  mind  there  can  be  no  true  religion. 
Without  liberty  the  brain  is  a  dungeon — the  mind 
a  convict.  The  slave  may  bow  and  cringe  and 
crawl,  but  he  cannot  adore — he  cannot  love. 

True  religion  is  the  perfume  of  a  free  and  grate 
ful  heart.  True  religion  is  a  subordination  of  the 


THE   GHOSTS.  67 


passions  to  the  perceptions  of  the  intellect.  True 
religion  is  not  a  theory — it  is  a  practice.  It  is  not 
a  creed — it  is  a  life. 

A  theory  that  is  afraid  of  investigation  is  unde 
serving  a  place  in  the  -human  mind. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  tell  what  all  the  truth  is.  I 
do  not  pretend  to  have  fathomed  the  abyss,  nor  to 
have  floated  on  outstretched  wings  level  with  the 
dim  heights  of  thought.  I  simply  plead  for  freedom. 
I  denounce  the  cruelties  and  horrors  of  slavery.  I 
ask  for  light  and  air  for  the  souls  of  men.  I  say, 
take  off  those  chains — break  those  manacles — free 
those  limbs — release  that  brain!  I  plead  for  the 
right  to  think — to  reason — to  investigate.  I  ask 
that  the  future  may  be  enriched  with  the  honest 
thoughts  of  men.  I  implore  every  human  being  to 
be  a  soldier  in  the  army  of  progress. 

I  will  not  invade  the  rights  of  others.  You 
have  no  right  to  ^rect  your  toll-gate  upon  the 
highways  of  thought.  You  have  no  right  to  leap 
from  the  hedges  of  superstition  and  strike  down 
the  pioneers  of  the  human  race.  You  have  no 
right  to  sacrifice  the  liberties  of  man  upon  the 
altars  of  ghosts.  Believe  what  you  may;  preach 


68  THE   GHOSTS. 


what  you  desire ;  have  all  the  forms  and  ceremonies 
you  please ;  exercise  your  liberty  in  your  own  way 
but  extend  to  all  others  the  same  right. 

I  will  not  attack  your  doctrines  nor  your  creeds 
if  they  accord  liberty  to  me.  If  they  hold  thought 
to  be  dangerous  —  if  they  aver  that  doubt  is  a 
crime,  then  I  attack  them  one  and  all,  because  they 
enslave  the  minds  of  men. 

I  attack  the  monsters,  the  phantoms  of  imagi 
nation  that  have  ruled  the  world.  I  attack  slavery. 
I  ask  for  room  —  room  for  the  human  mind. 

Why  should  we  sacrifice  a  real  world  that  we 
have,  for  one  we  know  not  of?  Why  should  we 
enslave  ourselves?  Why  should  we  forge  fetters 
for  our  own  hands?  Why  should  we  be  the  slaves 
of  phantoms.  The  darkness  of  barbarism  was  the 
womb  of  these  shadows.  In  the  light  of  science 
they  cannot  cloud  the  sky  forever.  They  have 
reddened  the  hands  of  man  with  innocent  blood. 
They  made  the  cradle  a  curse,  and  the  grave 
a  place  of  torment. 

They  blinded  the  eyes  and  stopped  the  ears  of 
the  human  race.  They  subverted  all  ideas  of 
justice  by  promising  infinite  rewards  for  finite 
virtues,  and  threatening  infinite  punishment  for 
finite  offenses. 


THE   GHOSTS.  69 


They  filled  the  future  with  heavens  and  with 
hells,  with  the  shining  peaks  of  selfish  joy  and  the 
lurid  abysses  of  flame.  For  ages  they  kept  the 
world  in  ignorance  and  awe,  in  want  and  misery,  in 
fear  and  chains. 

I  plead  for  light,  for  air,  for  opportunity.  I 
plead  for  individual  independence.  I  plead  for  the 
rights  of  labor  and  of  thought.  I  plead  for  a 
chainless  future.  Let  the  ghosts  go  —  justice 
remains.  Let  them  disappear — men  and  women 
and  children  are  left.  Let  the  monsters  fade  away 
—  the  world  is  here  with  its  hills  and  seas  and 
plains,  with  its  seasons  of  smiles  and  frowns,  its 
spring  of  leaf  and  bud,  its  summer  of  shade  and 
flower  and  murmuring  stream ;  its  autumn  with  the 
laden  boughs,  when  the  withered  banners  of  the 
corn  are  still,  and  gathered  fields  are  growing 
strangely  wan ;  while  death,  poetic  death,  with 
hands  that  color  what  they  touch,  weaves  in  the 
Autumn  wood  her  tapestries  of  gold  and  brown. 

The  world  remains  with  its  winters  and  homes 
and  firesides,  where  grow  and  bloom  the  virtues  of 
our  race.  All  these  are  left;  and  music,  with  its 
sad  and  thrilling  voice,  and  all  there  is  of  art  and 
song  and  hope  and  love  and  aspiration  high.  All 


70  THE  GHOSTS. 


these  remain.  Let  the  ghosts  go  —  we  will  worship 
them  no  more. 

Man  is  greater  than  these  phantoms.  Humanity 
is  grander  than  all  the  creeds,  than  all  the  books. 
Humanity  is  the  great  sea,  and  these  creeds,  and 
books,  and  religions,  are  but  the  waves  of  a  day. 
Humanity  is  the  sky,  and  these  religions  and 
dogmas  and  theories  are  but  the  mists  and  clouds 
changing  continually,  destined  finally  to  melt  away. 

That  which  is  founded  upon  slavery,  and  fear, 
and  ignorance,  cannot  endure.  In  the  religion  of 
the  future  there  will  be  men  and  women  and 
children,  all  the  aspirations  of  the  soul,  and  all  the 
tender  humanities  of  the  heart. 

Let  the  ghosts  go.  .We  will  worship  them  no 
more.  Let  them  cover  their  eyeless  sockets  with 
their  fleshless  hands  and  fade  forever  from  the 
imaginations  of  men. 


THE    LIBERTY    OF 

MAN,  WOMAN  AND   CHILD. 


THE    LIBERTY    OF 

MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD, 


LIBERTY  SUSTAINS  THE  SAME  RELATION  TO  MIND  THAT  SPACE 
DOES  TO  MATTER. 

THERE  is  no  slavery  but  ignorance.     Liberty 
is  the  child  of  intelligence. 

The  history  of  man  is  simply  the  history  of 
slavery,  of  injustice  and  brutality,  together  with 
the  means  by  which  he  has,  through  the  dead  and 
desolate  years,  slowly  and  painfully  advanced.  He 
has  been  the  sport  and  prey  of  priest  and  king,  the 
food  of  superstition  and  cruel  might.  Crowned 
force  has  governed  ignorance  through  fear.  Hy 
pocrisy  and  tyranny  —  two  vultures  —  have  fed 
upon  the  liberties  of  man.  From  all  these  there 
has  been,  and  is,  but  one  means  of  escape  —  intel 
lectual  development.  Upon  the  back  of  industry 
has  been  the  whip.  Upon  the  brain  have  been  the 
fetters  of  superstition.  Nothing  has  been  left 


74  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

undone  by  the  enemies  of  freedom.  Every  art 
and  artifice,  every  cruelty  and  outrage  has  been 
practiced  and  perpetrated  to  destroy  the  rights  of 
man.  In  this  great  struggle  every  crime  has  been 
rewarded  and  every  virtue  has  been  punished. 
Reading,  writing,  thinking  and  investigating  have 
all  been  crimes. 

Every  science  has  been  an  outcast. 

All  the  altars  and  all  the  thrones  united  to 
arrest  the  forward  march  of  the  human  race.  The 
king  said  that  mankind  must  not  work  for  them 
selves.  The  priest  said  that  mankind  must  not 
think  for  themselves.  One  forged  chains  for  the 
hands,  the  other  for  the  soul.  Under  this  infamous 
regime  the  eagle  of  the  human  intellect  was  for 
ages  a  slimy  serpent  of  hypocrisy. 

The  human  race  was  imprisoned.  Through 
some  of  the  prison  bars  came  a  few  struggling  rays 
of  light.  Against  these  bars  Science  pressed  its 
pale  and  thoughtful  face,  wooed  by  the  holy  dawn 
of  human  advancement.  Bar  after  bar  was  broken 
away.  A  few  grand  men  escaped  and  devoted 
their  lives  to  the  liberation  of  their  fellows. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  there  was  a  great 
awakening  of  the  human  mind.  Men  began  to 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  75 

inquire  by  what  right  a  crowned  robber  made 
them  work  for  him?  The  man  who  asked  this 
question  was  called  a  traitor.  Others  asked  by 
what  right  does  a  robed  hypocrite  rule  my  thought  ? 
Such  men  were  called  infidels.  The  priest  said, 
and  the  king  said,  where  is  this  spirit  of  investiga 
tion  to  stop?  They  said  then  and  they  say  now, 
that  it  is  dangerous  for  man  to  be  free.  I  deny  it. 
Out  on  the  intellectual  sea  there  is  room  enough 
for  every  sail.  In  the  intellectual  air  there  is  space 
enough  for  every  wing. 

The  man  who  does  not  do  his  own  thinking  is  a 
slave,  and  is  a  traitor  to  himself  and  to  his  fellow- 
men. 

Every  man  should  stand  under  the  blue  and 
stars,  under  the  infinite  flag  of  nature,  the  peer  of 
every  other  man. 

Standing  in  the  presence  of  the  Unknown,  all 
have  the  same  right  to  think,  and  all  are  equally 
interested  in  the  great  questions  of  origin  and 
destiny.  All  I  claim,  all  I  plead  for,  is  liberty  of 
thought  and  expression.  That  is  all.  I  do  not 
pretend  to  tell  what  is  absolutely  true,  but  what  I 
think  is  true.  I  do  not  pretend  to  tell  all  the  truth. 

I  do  not  claim  that  I  have  floated  level  with  the 


76  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

heights  of  thought,  or  that  I  have  descended  to  the 
very  depths  of  things.  I  simply  claim  that  what 
ideas  I  have,  I  have  a  right  to  express ;  and  that 
any  man  who  denies  that  right  to  me  is  an  intel 
lectual  thief  and  robber.  That  is  all. 

Take  those  chains  from  the  human  soul.  Break 
those  fetters.  If  I  have  no  right  to  think,  why 
have  I  a  brain?  If  I  have  no  such  right,  have 
three  or  four  men,  or  any  number,  who  may  get 
together,  and  sign  a  creed,  and  build  a  house,  and 
put  a  steeple  upon  it,  and  a  bell  in  it — have  they 
the  right  to  think?  The  good  men,  the  good 
women  are  tired  of  the  whip  and  lash  in  the  realm 
of  thought.  .  They  remember  the  chain  and  fagot 
with  a  shudder.  They  are  free,  and  they  give 
liberty  to  others.  Whbever  claims  any  right  that 
he  is  unwilling  to  accord  to  his  fellow-men  is  dis 
honest  and  infamous. 

In  the  good  old  times,  our  fathers  had  the  idea 
that  they  could  make  people  believe  to  suit  them. 
Our  ancestors,  in  the  ages  that  are  gone,  really 
believed  that  by  force  you  could  convince  a  man. 
You  cannot  change  the  conclusion  of  the  brain  by 
torture ;  nor  by  social  ostracism.  But  I  will  tell 
you  what  you  can  do  by  these,  and  what  you  have 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  77 

done.  You  can  make  hypocrites  by  the  million. 
You  can  make  a  man  say  that  he  has  changed  his 
mind ;  but  he  remains  of  the  same  opinion  still. 
Put  fetters  all  over  him;  crush  his  feet  in  iron 
boots ;  stretch  him  to  the  last  gasp  upon  the  holy 
rack ;  burn  him,  if  you  please,  but  his  ashes  will  be 
of  the  same  opinion  still. 

Our  fathers  in  the  good  old  times  —  and  the 
best  thing  I  can  say  about  them  is,  that  they  have 
passed  away  —  had  an  idea  that  they  could  force 
men  to  think  their  way.  That  idea  is  still  prevalent 
in  many  parts,  even  of  this  country.  Even  in  our 
day  some  extremely  religious  people  say,  "We  will 
not  trade  with  that  man ;  we  will  not  vote  for  him ; 
we  will  not  hire  him  if  he  is  a  lawyer ;  we  will  die 
before  we  will  take  his  medicine  if  he  is  a  doctor; 
we  will  not  invite  him  to  dinner;  we  will  socially 
ostracise  him ;  he  must  come  to  our  church ;  he 
must  believe  our  doctrines ;  he  must  worship  our 
god  or  we  will  not  in  any  way  contribute  to  his 
support." 

In  the  old  times  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
they  desired  to  make  all  men  think  exactly  alike. 
All  the  mechanical  ingenuity  of  the  world  cannot 
make  two  clocks  run  exactly  alike,  and  how  are  you 


78  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

• 

going  to  make  hundreds  of  millions  of  people,  dif 
fering  in  brain  and  disposition,  in  education  and 
aspiration,  in  conditions  and  surroundings,  each 
clad  in  a  living  robe  of  passionate  flesh  —  how  are 
you  going  to  make  them  think  and  feel  alike  ?  If 
there  is  an  infinite  god,  one  who  made  us,  and 
wishes  us  to  think  alike,  why  did  he  give  a  spoonful 
of  brains  to  one,  and  a  magnificent  intellectual 
development  to  another?  Why  is  it  that  we  have 
all  degrees  of  intelligence,  from  orthodoxy  to 
genius,  if  it  was  intended  that  all  should  think  and 
feel  alike? 

I  used  to  read  in  books  how  our  fathers  perse 
cuted  mankind.  But  I  never  appreciated  it.  I  read 
it,  but  it  did  not  burn  itself  into  my  soul.  1  did  not 
really  appreciate  the  fnfamies  that  have  been  com 
mitted  in  the  name  of  religion,  until  I  saw  the  iron 
arguments  that  Christians  used.  I  saw  the  Thumb 
screw —  two  little  pieces  of  iron,  armed  on  the 
inner  surfaces  with  protuberances,  to  prevent  their 
slipping;  through  each  end  a  screw  uniting  the  two 
pieces.  And  when  some  .man  denied  the  efficacy 
of  baptism,  or  may  be  said,  "I  do  not  believe  that 
a  fish  ever  swallowed  a  man  to  keep  him  from 
drowning,"  then  they  put  his  thumb  between  these 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  79 

pieces  of  iron  and  in  the  name  of  love  and 
universal  forgiveness,  began  to  screw  these  pieces 
together.  When  this  was  done  most  men  said,  "I 
will  recant."  Probably  I  should  have  done  the 
same.  Probably  I  would  have  said:  "Stop,  I  will 
admit  anything  that  you  wish;  I  will  admit  that 
there  is  one  god  or  a  million,  one  hell  or  a  billion ; 
suit  yourselves  ;  but  stop." 

But  there  was  now  and  then  a  man  who  would 
not  swerve  the  breadth  of  a  hair.  There  was  now 
and  then  some  sublime  heart,  willing  to  die  for  an 
intellectual  conviction.  Had  it  not  been  for  such 
men,  we  would  be  savages  to-night.  Had  it  not 
been  for  a  few  brave,  heroic  souls  in  every  age,  we 
would  have  been  cannibals,  with  pictures  of  wild 
beasts  tattooed  upon  our  flesh,  dancing  around 
some  dried  snake  fetich. 

Let  us  thank  every  good  and  noble  man  who 
stood  so  grandly,  so  proudly,  in  spite  of  opposition, 
of  hatred  and  death,  for  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
truth. 

Heroism  did  not  excite  the  respect  of  our 
fathers.  The  man  who  would  not  recant  was  not 
forgiven.  They  screwed  the  thumbscrews  down  to 
the  last  pang,  and  then  threw  their  victim  into  some 


80  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

dungeon,  where,  in  the  throbbing  silence  and  dark 
ness,  he  might  suffer  the  agonies  of  the  fabled 
damned.  This  was  done  in  the  name  of  love  — in 
the  name  of  mercy — in  the  name  of  the  compas 
sionate  Christ. 

I  saw,  too,  what  they  called  the  Collar  of 
Torture.  Imagine  a  circle  of  iron,  and  on  the 
inside  a  hundred  points  almost  as  sharp  as  needles. 
This  argument  was  fastened  about  the  throat  of 
the  sufferer.  Then  he  could  not  walk,  nor  sit 
down,  nor  stir  without  the  neck  being  punctured  by 
these  points.  In  a  little  while  the  throat  would 
begin  to  swell,  and  suffocation  would  end  the 
agonies  of  that  man.  This  man,  it  may  be,  had 
committed  ^he  crime  of  saying,  with  tears  upon  his 
cheeks,  "I  do  not  believe  that  God,  the  father  of 
us  all,  will  damn  to  eternal  perdition  any  of  the 
children  of  men." 

I  saw  another  instrument,  called  the  Scaven 
ger's  Daughter.  Think  of  a  pair  of  shears  with 
handles,  not  only  where  they  now  are,  but  at  the 
points  as  well,  and  just  above  the  pivot  that  unites 
the  blades,  a  circle  of  iron.  In  the  upper  handles 
the  hands  would  be  placed ;  in  the  lower,  the  feet ; 
and  through  the  iron  ring,  at  the  centre,  the  head 


MAN,    WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  81 

of  the  victim  would  be  forced.  In  this  condition/ 
he  would  be  thrown  prone  upon  the  earth,  and  the 
strain  upon  the  muscles  produced  such  agony  that 
insanity  would  in  pity  end  his  pain. 

This  was  done  by  gentlemen  who  said:  "Who 
soever  smiteth  thee  upon  one  cheek  turn  to  him  the 
other  also." 

I  saw  the  Rack.  This  was  a  box  like  the  bed  of 
a  wagon,  with  a  windlass  at  each  end,  with  levers, 
and  ratchets  to  prevent  slipping ;  over  each  wind 
lass  went  chains ;  some  were  fastened  to  the  ankles 
of  the  sufferer;  others  to  his  wrists.  And  then 
priests,  clergymen,  divines,  saints,  began  turning 
these  windlasses,  and  kept  turning,  until  the  ankles, 
the  knees,  the  hips,  the  shoulders,  the  elbows,  the 
wrists  of  the  victim  were  all  dislocated,  and  the 
sufferer  was  wet  with  the  sweat  of  agony.  And 
they  had  standing  by  a  physician  to  feel  his  pulse. 
What  for?  To  save  his  life?  Yes.  In  mercy? 
No ;  simply  that  they  might  rack  him  once  again. 

This  was  done,  remember,  in  the  name  of  civil 
ization  ;  in  the  name  of  law  and  order;  in  the  name 
of  mercy ;  in  the  name  of  religion ;  in  the  name 
of  the  most  merciful  Christ. 

Sometimes,  when  I  read  and  think  about  these 

6 


82  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

frightful  things,  it  seems  to  me  that  I  have  suffered 
all  these  horrors  myself.  It  seems  sometimes,  as 
though  I  had  stood  upon  the  shore  of  exile  and 
gazed  with  tearful  eyes  toward  home  and  native 
land ;  as  though  my  nails  had  been  torn  from  my 
hands,  and  into  the  bleeding  quick  needles  had 
been  thrust;  as  though  my  feet  had  been  crushed 
in  iron  boots ;  as  though  I  had  been  chained  in  the 
cell  of  the  Inquisition  and  listened  with  dying  ears 
for  the  coming  footsteps  of  release ;  as  though  I 
had  stood  upon  the  scaffold  and  had  seen  the 
glittering  axe  fall  upon  me ;  as  though  I  had  been 
upon  the  rack  and  had  seen,  bending  above  me, 
the  white  faces  of  hypocrite  priests ;  as  though  I 
had  been  taken  from  my  fireside,  from  my  wife  and 
children,  taken  to  thfe  public  square,  chained ;  as 
though  fagots  had  been  piled  about  me ;  as  though 
the  flames  had  climbed  around  my  limbs  and 
scorched  my  eyes  to  blindness,  and  as  though  my 
ashes  had  been  scattered  to  the  four  winds,  by  all 
the  countless  hands  of  hate.  And  when  I  so  feel, 
I  swear  that  while  I  live  I  will  do  what  little  I 
can  to  preserve  and  to  augment  the  liberties  of 
man,  woman,  and  child. 

It  is  a  question  of  justice,  of  mercy,  of  honesty, 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  83 

of  intellectual  development.  If  there  is  a  man  in 
the  world  who  is  not  willing  to  give  to  every  human 
being  every  right  he  claims  for  himself,  he  is  just  so 
much  nearer  a  barbarian  than  I  am.  It  is  a  ques 
tion  of  honesty.  The  man  who  is  not  willing  to 
give  to  every  other  the  same  intellectual  rights  he 
claims  for  himself,  is  dishonest,  selfish,  and  brutal. 

It  is  a  question  of  intellectual  development. 
Whoever  holds  another  man  responsible  for  his 
honest  thought,  has  a  deformed  and  distorted  brain. 
It  is  a  question  of  intellectual  development. 

A  little  while  ago  I  saw  models  of  nearly  every 
thing  that  man  has  made.  I  saw  models  of  all  the 
water  craft,  from  the  rude  dug-out  in  which  floated 
a  naked  savage — one  of  our  ancestors — a  naked 
savage,  with  teeth  two  inches  in  length,  with  a 
spoonful  of  brains  in  the  back  of  his  head — I  saw 
models  of  all  the  water  craft  of  the  world,  from  that 
dug-out  up  to  a  man-of-war,  that  carries  a  hundred 
guns  and  miles  of  canvas — from  that  dug-out  to 
the  steamship  that  turns  its  brave  prow  from  the 
port  of  New  York,  with  a  compass  like  a  con 
science,  crossing  three  thousand  miles  of  billows 
without  missing  a  throb  or  beat  of  its  mighty  iron 
heart. 


84  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

I  saw  at  the  same  time  the  weapons  that  man 
has  made,  from  a  club,  such  as  was  grasped  by 
that  same  savage,  when  he  crawled  from  his  den  in 
the  ground  and  hunted  a  snake  for  his  dinner; 
from  that  club  to  the  boomerang,  to  the  sword,  to 
the  cross-bow,  to  the  blunderbuss,  to  the  flint-lock, 
to  the  cap-lock,  to  the  needle-gun,  up  to  a  cannon 
cast  by  Krupp,  capable  of  hurling  a  ball  weighing 
two  thousand  pounds  through  eighteen  inches  of 
solid  steel. 

I  saw,  too,  the  armor  from  the  shell  of  a  turtle, 
that  one  of  our  brave  ancestors  lashed  upon  his 
breast  when  he  went  to  fight  for  his  country ;  the 
skin  of  -<JL  porcupine,  dried  with  the  quills  on,  which 
this  same  savage  pulled  over  his.  orthodox  head, 
up  to  the  shirts  of  mail,  that  were  worn  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  that  laughed  at  the  edge  of  the 
sword  and  defied  the  point  of  the  spear;  up  to  a 
monitor  clad  in  complete  steel. 

I  saw  at  the  same  time,  their  musical  instru 
ments,  from  the  tom-tom  —  that  is,  a  hoop  with  a 
couple  of  strings  of  raw  hide  drawn  across  it  — 
from  that  tom-tom,  up  to  the  instruments  we 
have  to-day,  that  make  the  common  air  blossom 
with  melody. 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  85 

I  saw,  too,  their  paintings,  from  a  daub  of 
yellow  mud,  to  the  great  works  which  now  adorn 
the  galleries  of  the  world.  I  saw  also  their  sculp 
ture,  from  the  rude  god  with  four  legs,  a  half  dozen 
arms,  several  noses,  and  two  or  three  rows  of  ears, 
and  one  little,  contemptible,  brainless  head,  up  to 
the  figures  of  to-day  —  to  the  marbles  that  genius 
has  clad  in  such  a  personality  that  it  seems  almost 
impudent  to  touch  them  without  an  introduction. 

I  saw  their  books  —  books  written  upon  skins  of 
wild  beasts  —  upon  shoulder-blades  of  sheep  — 
books  written  upon  leaves,  upon  bark,  up  to  the 
splendid  volumes  that  enrich  the  libraries  of  our 
day.  When  I  speak  of  libraries,  I  think  of  the 
remark  of  Plato:  "A  house  that  has  a  library  in 
it'  has  a  soul." 

I  saw  their  implements  of  agriculture,  from  a 
crooked  stick  that  was  attached  to  the  horn  of  an 
ox  by  some  twisted  straw,  to  the  agricultural  imple 
ments  of  this  generation,  that  make  it  possible 
for  a  man  to  cultivate  the  soil  without  being  an 
ignoramus. 

While  looking  upon  these  things  I  was  forced  to 
say  that  man  advanced  only  as  he  mingled  his 
thought  with  his  labor,  —  only  as  he  got  into  part- 


86  THE  LIBERTY  OP 

nership  with  the  forces  of  nature, — only  as  he 
learned  to  take  advantage  of  his  surroundings  — 
only  as  he  freed  himself  from  the  bondage  of  fear, 
— only  as  he  depended  upon  himself — only  as  he 
lost  confidence  in  the  gods. 

I  saw  at  the  same  time  a  row  of  human  skulls, 
from  the  lowest  skull  that  has  been  found,  the 
Neanderthal  skull  —  skulls  from  Central  Africa, 
skulls  from  the  Bushmen  of  Australia — skulls  from 
the  farthest  isles  of  the  Pacific  sea  —  up  to  the  best 
skulls  of  the  last  generation ; — and  I  noticed  that 
there  was  the  same  difference  between  those  skulls 
that  there  was  between  the  products  of  those  skulls, 
and  I  said  to  myself,  "After  all,  it  is  a  simple  ques 
tion  of  intellectual  development."  There  was  the 
same  difference  between  those  skulls,  the  lowest 
and  highest  skulls,  that  there  was  between  the  dug 
out  and  the  man-of-war  and  the  steamship,  between 
the  club  and  the  Krupp  gun,  between  the  yellow 
daub  and  the  landscape,  between  the  tom-tom  and 
an  opera  by  Verdi. 

The  first  and  lowest  skull  in  this  row  was  the 
den  in  which  crawled  the  base  and  meaner  instincts 
of  mankind,  and  the  last  was  a  temple  in  which 
dwelt  joy,  liberty,  and  love. 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  87 

It  is  all  a  question  of  brain,  of  intellectual  de 
velopment. 

If  we  are  nearer  free  than  were  our  fathers,  it 
is  because  we  have  better  heads  upon  the  average, 
and  more  brains  in  them. 

Now,  I  ask  you  to  be  honest  with  me.  It  makes 
no 'difference  to  you  what  I  believe,  nor  what  I  wish 
to  prove.  I  simply  ask  you  to  be  honest.  Divest 
your  minds,  for  a  moment  at  least,  of  all  religious 
prejudice.  Act,  for  a  few  moments,  as  though  you 
were  men  and  women. 

Suppose  the  king,  if  there  was  one,  and  the 
priest,  if  there  was  one,  at  the  time  this  gentleman 
floated  in  the  dug-out,  and  charmed  his  ears  with 
the  music  of  the  tom-tom,  had  said:  "That  dug-out 
is  the  best  boat  that  ever  can  be  built  by  man ;  the 
pattern  of  that  came  from  on  high,  from  the  great 
god  of  storm  and  flood,  and  any  man  who  says  that 
he  can  improve  it  by  putting  a  mast  in  it,  with  a  sail 
upon  it,  is  an  infidel,  and  shall  be  burned  at  the 
stake;"  what,  in  your  judgment  —  honor  bright  — 
would  have  been  the  effect  upon  the  circumnaviga 
tion  of  the  globe? 

Suppose  the  king,  if  there  was  one,  and  the 
priest,  if  there  was  one  —  and  I  presume  there  was 


88  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

a  priest,  because  it  was  a  very  ignorant  age  —  sup 
pose  this  king  and  priest  had  said:  "That  tom-tom 
is  the  most  beautiful  instrument  of  music  of  which 
any  man  can  conceive;  that  is  the  kind  of  music 
they  have  in  heaven;  an  angel  sitting  upon  the 
edge  of  a  fleecy  cloud,  golden  in  the  setting  sun, 
playing  upon  that  tom-tom,  became  so  enraptured, 
so  entranced  wifti  her  own  music,  that  in  a  kind  of 
ecstasy  she  dropped  it — that  is  how  we  obtained  it; 
and  any  man  who  says  that  it  can  be  improved  by 
putting  a  back  an-d  front  to  it,  and  four  strings,  and 
a  brklge,  and  getting  a  bow  of  hair  with  rosin,  is  a 
blaspheming  wretch,  and  shall  die  the  death," — I 
ask  you,  what  effect  would  that  have  had  upon 
music?  If  that  course  had  been  pursued,  would 
the  human  ears,  in  your  judgment,  ever  have  been 
enriched  with  the  divine  symphonies  of  Beethoven  ? 
Suppose  the  king,  if  there  was  one,  and  the 
priest,  had  said:  "That  crooked  stick  is  the  best 
plow  that  can  be  invented :  the  pattern  of  that  plow 
was  given  to  a  pious  farmer  in  a  holy  dream,  and 
that  twisted  straw  is  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  all  twisted 
things,  and  any  man  who  says  he  can  make  an  im 
provement  upon  that  plow,  is  an  atheist;"  what,  in 
your  judgment,  would  have  been  the  effect  upon 
.the  science  of  agriculture  ? 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  89 

But  the  people  said,  and  the  king  and  priest 
said:  "We  want  better  weapons  with  which  to  kill 
our  fellow  Christians ;  we  want  better  plows,  better 
music,  better  paintings,  and  whoever  will  give  us 
better  weapons,  and  better  music,  better  houses  to 
live  in,  better  clothes,  we  will  robe  him  in  wealth, 
and  crown  him  with  honor."  Every  incentive  was 
held  out  to  every  human  being  to  improve  these 
things.  That  is  the  reason  the  club  has  been 
changed  to  a  cannon,  the  dug-out  to  a  steamship, 
the  daub  to  a  painting ;  that  is  the  reason  that  the 
piece  of  rough  and  broken  stone  finally  became  a 
glorified  statue. 

You  must  not,  however,  forget  that  the  gen 
tleman  in  the  dug-out,  the  gentleman  who  was 
enraptured  with  the  music  of  the  tom-tom,  and 
cultivated  his  land  with  a  crooked  stick,  had'  a 
religion  of  his  own.  That  gentlemen  in  the  dug 
out  was  orthodox.  He  was  never  troubled  with 
doubts.  He  lived  and  died  settled  in  his  mind. 
He  believed  in  hell ;  and  he  thought  he  would  be 
far  happier  in  heaven,  if  he  could  just  lean  over  and 
see  certain  people  who  expressed  doubts  as  to  the 
truth  of  his  creed,  gently  but  everlastingly  broiled 
and  burned. 


THE  LIBERTY  OF 


It  is  a  very  sad  and  unhappy  fact  that  this  man 
has  had  a  great  many  intellectual  descendants.  It 
is  also  an  unhappy  fact  in  nature,  that  the  ignorant 
multiply  much  faster  than  the  intellectual.  This 
fellow  in  the  dug-out  believed  in  a  personal  devil. 
His  devil  had  a  cloven  hoof,  a  long  tail,  armed  with 
a  fiery  dart ;  and  his  devil  breathed  brimstone. 
This  devil  was  at  least  the  equal  of  god ;  not  quite 
so  stout  but  a  little  shrewder.  And  do  you  know 
there  has  not  been  a  patentable  improvement  made 
upon  that  devil  for  six  thousand  years. 

This  gentleman  in  the  dug-out  believed  that  God 
was  a  tyrant;  that  he  would  eternally  damn  the 
man  who  lived  in  accordance  with  his  highest  and 
grandest  ideal.  He  believed  that  the  earth  was 
flat.  He  believed  in  a  literal,  burning,  seething 
hell  of  fire  and  sulphur.  He  had  also  his  idea  of 
politics ;  and  his  doctrine  was,  might .  makes  right. 
And  it  will  take  thousands  of  years  before  the 
world  will  reverse  this  doctrine,  and  believingly  say, 
"Right  makes  might." 

All  I  ask  is  the  same  privilege  to  improve  upon 
that  gentleman's  theology  as  upon  his  musical  in 
strument;  the  same  right  to  improve  upon  his 
politics  as  upon  his  dug-out.  That  is  all.  I  ask 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  91 

for  the  human  soul  the  same  liberty  in  every  direc 
tion.  That  is  the  only  crime  I  have  committed.  I 
say,  let  us  think.  Let  each  one  express  his 
thought.  Let  us  become  investigators,  not  follow 
ers,  not  cringers  and  crawlers.  If  there  is  in 
heaven  an  infinite  being,  he  never  will  be  satisfied 
with  the  worship  of  cowards  and  hypocrites.  Hon 
est  unbelief,  honest  infidelity,  honest  atheism,  will 
be  a  perfume  in  heaven  when  pious  hypocrisy,  no 
matter  how  religious  it  may  be  outwardly,  will  be  a 
stench. 

This  is  my  doctrine :  Give  every  other  human 
being  every  right  you  claim  for  yourself.  Keep 
your  mind  open  to  the  influences  of  nature.  Re 
ceive  new  thoughts  with  hospitality.  Let  us 
advance. 

The  religionist  of  to-day  wants  the  ship  of  his 
soul  to  lie  at  the  wharf  of  orthodoxy  and  rot  in  the 
sun.  He  delights  to  hear  the  sails  of  old  opinions 
flap  against  the  masts  of  old  creeds.  He  loves  to 
see  the  joints  and  the  sides  open  and  gape  in  the 
sun,  and  it  is  a  kind  of  bliss  for  him  to  repeat  again 
and  again:  "Do  not  disturb  my  opinions.  Do  not 
unsettle  my  mind ;  I  have  it  all  made  up,  and  I 
want  no  infidelity.  Let  me  go  backward  rather 
than  forward." 


92 


As  far  as  I  am  concerned  I  wish  to  be  out  on  the 
high  seas.  I  wish  to  take  my  chances  with  wind, 
and  wave,  and  star.  And  I  had  rather  go  down  in 
the  glory  and  grandeur  of  the  storm,  'than  to  rot  in 
any  orthodox  harbor  whatever. 

After  all,  we  are  improving  from  age  to  age. 
The  most  orthodox  people  in  this  country  two 
hundred  years  ago  would  have  been  burned  for  the 
crime  of  heresy.  The  ministers  who  denounce  me 
for  expressing  my  thought  would  have  been  in  the 
Inquisition  themselves.  Where  once  burned  and 
blazed  the  bivouac  fires  of  the  army  of  progress, 
now  glow  the  altars  of  the  church.  The  religion 
ists  of  our  time  are  occupying  about  the  same 
ground  occupied  by  heretics  and  infidels  of  one 
hundred  years  ago.  The  church  has  advanced  in 
spite,  as  it  were,  of  itself.  It  has  followed  the 
army  of  progress  protesting  and  denouncing,  and 
had  to  keep  within  protesting  and  denouncing  dis 
tance.  If  the  church  had  not  made  great  progress 
I  could  not  express  my  thoughts. 

Man,  however,  has  advanced  just  exactly  in  the 
proportion  with  which  he  has  mingled  his  thought 
with  his  labor.  The  sailor,  without  control  of  the 
wind  and  wave,  knowmg  nothing  or  very  little  of 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  93 

the  mysterious  currents  and  pulses  of  the  sea,  is 
superstitious.  So  also  is  the  agriculturist,  whose 
prosperity  depends  upon  something  he  cannot  con 
trol.  But  the  mechanic,  when  a  wheel  refuses  to 
turn,  never  thinks  of  dropping  on  his  knees  and 
asking  the  assistance  of  some  divine  power.  He 
knows  there  is  a  reason.  He  knows  that  some 
thing  is  too  large  or  too  small;  that  there  is 
something  wrong  with  his  machine  ;  and  he  goes 
to  work  and  he  makes  it  larger  or  smaller,  here  or 
there,  until  the  wheel  will  turn.  Now,  just  in  pro 
portion  as  man  gets  away  from  being,  as  it  were, 
the  slave  of  his  surroundings,  the  serf  of  the 
elements, —  of  the  heat,  the  frost,  the  snow,  and 
the  lightning,  —  just  to  the  extent  that  he  has  got 
ten  control  of  his  own  destiny,  just  to  the  extent 
that  he  has  triumphed  over  the  obstacles  of  nature, 
he  has  advanced  physically  and  intellectually.  As 
man  develops,  he  places  a  greater  value  upon  his 
own  rights.  Liberty  becomes  a  grander  and  diviner 
thing.  As  he  values  his  own  rights,  he  begins  to 
value  the  rights  of  others.  And  when  all  men 
give  to  all  others  all  the  rights  they  claim  for  them 
selves,  this  world  will  be  civilized. 

A  few  years   ago   the   people    were    afraid    to 


94  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

question  the  king,  afraid  to  question  the  priest, 
afraid  to  investigate  a  creed,  afraid  to  deny  a  book, 
afraid  to  denounce  a  dogma,  afraid  to  reason, 
afraid  to  think.  Before  wealth  they  bowed  to  the 
very  earth,  and  in  the  presence  of  titles  they 
became  abject.  All  this  is  slowly  but  surely 
changing.  We  no  longer  bow  to  men  simply  be 
cause  they  are  rich.  Our  fathers  worshiped  the 
golden  calf.  The  worst  you  can  say  of  an  Amer 
ican  now  is,  he  worships  the  gold  of  the  'calf. 
Even  the  calf  is  beginning  to  see  this  distinction. 
It  no  longer  satisfies  the  ambition  of  a  great 
man  to  be  king  or  emperor.  The  last  Napoleon 
was  not  satisfied  with  being  the  emperor  of  the 
French.  He  was  not  satisfied  with  having  a  circlet 
of  gold  about  his  head.  He  wanted  some  evidence 
that  he  had  something  of  value  within  his  head. 
So  he  wrote  the  life  of  Julius  Csesar,  that  he  might 
become  a  member  of  the  French  Academy.  The 
emperors,  the  kings,  the  popes,  no  longer  tower 
above  their  fellows.  Compare,  for  instance,  King 
William  and  Bismarck.  The  king  is  one  of  the 
anointed  by  the  most  high,  as  they  claim  —  one 
upon  whose  head  has  been  poured  the  divine 
petroleum  of  authority.  Compare  this  king  with 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  95 

1 

Bismarck,  who  towers  an  intellectual  colossus  above 
the  crowned  mediocrity.  Compare  George  Eliot 
with  Queen  Victoria.  The  queen  is  clothed  in 
garments  given  her  by  blind  fortune  and  unreason 
ing  chance,  while  George  Eliot  wears  robes  of 
glory  woven  in  the  loom  of  her  own  genius. 

The  world  is  beginning  to  pay  homage  to  intel 
lect,  to  genius,  to  heart. 

We  have  advanced.  We  have  reaped  the  ben 
efit  of  every  sublime  and  heroic  self-sacrifice,  of 
every  divine  and  brave  act;  and  we  should  en 
deavor  to  hand  the  torch  to  the  next  generation, 
having  added  a  little  to  the  intensity  and  glory  of 
the  flame. 

When  I  think  of  how  much  this  world  has  suf 
fered  ;  when  I  think  of  how  long  our  fathers  were 
slaves,  of  how  they  cringed  and  crawled  at  the  foot 
of  the  throne,  and  in  the  dust  of  the  altar,  of  how 
they  abased  themselves,  of  how  abjectly  they  stood 
in  the  presence  of  superstition  robed  and  crowned, 
I  am  amazed. 

This  world  has  not  been  fit  for  a  man  to  live  in 
fifty  years.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1808  that 
Great  Britain  abolished  the  slave  trade.  Up  to 
that  time  her  judges,  sitting  upon  the  bench  in  the 


96  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

name  of  justice,  her  priests,  occupying  her  pulpits, 
in  the  name  of  universal  love,  owned  stock  in  the 
slave  ships,  and  luxuriated  upon  the  profits  of 
piracy  and  murder.  It  was  not  until  .the  same  year 
that  the  United  States  of  America  abolished  the 
slave  trade  between  this  and  other  countries,  but 
carefully  preserved  it  as  between  the  States.  It 
was  not  until  the  28th  day  of  August,  1833,  that 
Great  Britain  abolished  human  slavery  in  her  colo 
nies ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  ist  day  of  January, 
1863,  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  sustained  by  the  sub 
lime  and  heroic  North,  rendered  our  flag  pure  as 
the  sky  in  which  it  floats. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was,  in  my  judgment,  in  many 
respects,  the  grandest  man  ever  President  of  the 
United  States.  Upon  his  monument  these  words 
should  be  written:  "Here  sleeps  the  only  man  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  who,  having  been  clothed 
with  almost  absolute  power,  never  abused  it,  except 
upon  the  side  of  mercy." 

Think  how  long  we  clung  to  the  institution  of 
human  slavery,  how  long  lashes  upon  the  naked 
back  were  a  legal  tender  for  labor  performed. 
Think  of  it.  The  pulpit  of  this  country  deliber 
ately  and  willingly,  for  a  hundred  years,  turned  the 
cross  of  Christ  into  a  whipping  post. 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND  CHILD,  97 

With  every  drop  of  my  blood  I  hate  and 
execrate  every  form  of  tyranny,  every  form  of 
slavery.  I  hate  dictation.  I  love  liberty. 

What  do  I  mean  by  liberty?  By  physical  liberty 
I  mean  the  right  to  do  anything  which  does  not 
interfere  with  the  happiness  of  another.  By  intel 
lectual  liberty  I  mean  the  right  to  think  right  and 
the  right  to  think  wrong.  Thought  is  the  means 
by  which  we  endeavor  to  arrive  at  truth.  If  we 
know  the  truth  already,  we  need  not  think.  All 
that  can  be  required  is  honesty  of  purpose.  You 
ask  my  opinion  about  anything;  I  examine  it 
honestly,  and  when  my  mind  is  made  up,  what 
should  I  tell  you?  Should  I  tell  you  my  real 
thought?  What  should  I  do?  There  is  a  book 
put  in  my  hands.  I  am  told  this  is  the  Koran;  it 
was  written  by  inspiration.  I  read  it,  and  when  I 
get  through,  suppose  that  I  think  in  my  heart  and 
in  my  brain,  that  it  is  utterly  untrue,  and  you  then 
ask  me,  what  do  you  think?  Now,  admitting  that 
I  live  in  Turkey,  and  have  no  chance  to  get  any 
office  unless  I  am  on  the  side  of  the  Koran, 
what  should  I  say?  Should  I  make  a  clean  breast 
and  say,  that  upon  my  honor  I  do  not  believe 

it?      What  would   you   think  then   of  my  fellow- 

7 


98  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

citizens  if  they  said:  "That  man  is  dangerous,  he 
is  -dishonest." 

Suppose  I  read  the  book  called  the  bible,  and 
when  I  get  through  I  make  up  my  mind  that  it  was 
written  by  men.  A  minister  asks  me,  "Did  you 
read  the  bible?"  I  answer  that  I  did.  "Do  you 
think  it  divinely  inspired?"  What  should  I  reply? 
Should  I  say  to  myself,  "  If  I  deny  the  inspiration 
of  the  scriptures,  the  people  will  never  clothe  me 
with  power."  What  ought  I  to. answer?  Ought  I 
not  to  say  like  a  man:  "I  have  read  it;  I  do  not 
believe  it."  Should  I  not  give  the  real  transcript 
of  my  mind  ?  Or  should  I  turn  hypocrite  and  pre 
tend  what  I  do  not  feel,  and  hate  myself  forever 
after  for  being  a  cringing  coward.  For  my  part  I 
would  rather  a  man  would  tell  me  what  he  honestly 
thinks.  I  would  rather  he  would  preserve  his  man 
hood.  I  had  a  thousand  times  rather  be  a  manly 
unbeliever  than  an  unmanly  believer.  And  if  there 
is  a  judgment  day,  a  time  when  all  will  stand  before 
some  supreme  being,  I  believe  I  will  stand  higher, 
and  stand  a  better  chance  of  getting  my  case  de 
cided  in  my  favor,  than  any  man  sneaking  through 
life  pretending  to  believe  what  he  does  not. 

I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  say  my  say.     I 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND  GHILD.  99 

shall  do  it  kindly,  distinctly ;  but  I  am  going  to  do 
it.  I  know  there  are  thousands  of  men  who  sub 
stantially  agree  with  me,  but  who  are  not  in  a  con 
dition  to  express  their  thoughts.  They  are  poor ; 
they  are  in  business ;  and  they  know  that  should 
they  tell  their  honest  thought,  persons  will  refuse 
to  patronize  them  —  to  trade  with  them;  they  wish 
to  get  bread  for  their  little  children ;  they  wish  to 
take  care  of  their  wives ;  they  wish  to  have  homes 
and  the  comforts  of  life.  Every  such  person  is  a 
certificate  of  the  meanness  of  the  community  in 
which  he  resides.  And  yet  I  do  not  blame  these 
people  for  not  expressing  their  thought.  I  say  to 
them:  "Keep  your  ideas  to  yourselves;  feed  and 
clothe  the  ones  you  love ;  I  will  do  your  talking  for 
you.  The  church  can  not  touch,  can  not  crush, 
can  not  starve,  cannot  stop  or  stay  me ;  I  will  ex 
press  your  thoughts." 

As  an  excuse  for  tyranny,  as  a  justification  of 
slavery,  the  church  has  taught  that  man  is  totally 
depraved.  Of  the  truth  of  that  doctrine,  the 
church  has  furnished  the  only  evidence  there  is. 
The  truth  is,  we  are  both  good  and  bad.  The 
worst  are  capable  of  some  good  deeds,  and  the 


100  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

best  are  capable  of  bad.  The  lowest  can  rise,  and 
the  highest  may  fall.  That  mankind  can  be  divided 
into  two  great  classes,  sinners  and  saints,  is  an 
utter  falsehood.  In  times  of  great  disaster,  called 
it  may  be,  by  the  despairing  voices  of  women,  men, 
denounced  by  the  church  as  totally  depraved,  rush 
to  death  as  to  a  festival.  By  such  men,  deeds 
are  done  so  filled  with  self-sacrifice  and  generous 
daring,  that  millions  pay  to  them  the  tribute,  not 
only  of  admiration,  but  of  tears.  Above  all  creeds, 
above  all  religions,  after  all,  is  that  divine  thing, — 
Humanity ;  and  now  and  then  in  shipwreck  on  the 
wide,  wild  sea,  or  'mid  the  rocks  and  breakers  of 
some  cruel  shore,  or  where  the  serpents  of  flame 
writhe  and  hiss,  some  glorious  heart,  some  chivalric 
soul  does  a  deed  that  glitters  like  a  star,  and  gives 
the  lie  to  all  the  dogmas  of  superstition.  All  these 
frightful  doctrines  have  been  used  to  degrade  and 
to  enslave  mankind. 

Away,  forever  away  with  the  creeds  and  books 
and  forms  and  laws  and  religions  that  take  from 
the  soul  liberty  and  reason.  Down  with  the  idea 
that  thought  is  dangerous  !  Perish  the  infamous 
doctrine  that  man  can  have  property  in  man.  Let 
us  resent  with  indignation  every  effort  to  put  a 


MAN,    WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  101 

chain  upon  our  minds.  If  there  is  no  God,  cer 
tainly  we  should  not  bow  and  cringe  and  crawl.  If 
there  is  a  God,  there  should  be  "no  slaves. 

LIBERTY  OF  WOMAN. 

Women  have  been  the  slaves  of  slaves ;  and  in 
my  judgment  it  took  millions  of  ages  for  woman  to 
come  from  the  condition  of  abject  slavery  up  to  the 
institution  of  marriage.  Let  me  say  right  here,  that 
I  regard  marriage  as  the  holiest  institution  among 
men.  Without  the  fireside  there  is  no  human  ad 
vancement;  without  the  family  relation  there  is  no 
life  worth  living.  Every  good  government  is  made 
up  of  good  families.  The  unit  of  good  government 
is  the  family,  and  anything  that  tends  to  destroy 
the  family  is  perfectly  devilish  and  infamous.  I  be 
lieve  in  marriage,  and  I  hold  in  utter  contempt  the 
opinions  of  those  long-haired  men  and  short-haired 
women  who  denounce  the  institution  of  marriage. 

The  grandest  ambition  that  any  man  can  possi 
bly  have,  is  to  so  live,  and  so  improve  himself  in 
heart  and  brain,  as  to  be  worthy  of  the  love  of  some 
splendid  woman ;  and  the  grandest  ambition  of  any 
girl  is  to  make  herself  worthy  of  the  love  and  ado- 


102  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

ration  of  some  magnificent  man.  That  is  my  iaea. 
There  is  no  success  in  life  without  love  and  mar 
riage.  You  had  better  J^e  the  emperor  of  one  lov 
ing  and  tender-heart,  and  she  the  empress  of  yours, 
than  to  be  king  of  the  world.  The  man  who  has 
really  won  the  love  of  one  good  woman  in  this 
world,  I  do  not  care  if  he  dies  in  the  ditch  a  beg 
gar,  his  life  has  been  a  success. 

I  say  it  took  millions  of  years  to  come  from  the 
condition  of  abject  slavery  up  to  the  condition  of 
marriage.  Ladies,  the  ornaments  you  wear  upon 
your  persons  to-night  are  but  the  souvenirs  of  your 
mother's  bondage.  The  chains  around  your  necks, 
and  the  bracelets  clasped  upon  your  white  arms  by 
the  thrilled  hand  of  love,  have  been  changed  by 
the  wand  of  civilization  from  iron  to  shining,  glit 
tering  gold. 

But  nearly  every  religion  has  accounted  for  all 
the  devilment  in  this  world  by  the  crime  of  woman. 
What  a  gallant  thing  that  is !  And  if  it  is  true,  I 
had  rather  live  with  the  woman  I  love  in  a  world 
ful-1  of  trouble,  than  to  live  in  heaven  with  nobody 
but  men. 

I  read  in  a  book  —  and  I  will  say  now  that  I 
cannot  give  the  exact  language,  as  my  memory  does 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  103 

not  retain  the  words,  but  I  can  give  the  substance 
- 1  read  in  a  book  that  the  Supreme  Being  con 
cluded  to  make  a  world  and  one  man ;  that  he  took 

* 

some  nothing  and  made  a  world  and  one  man,  and 
put  this  man  in  a  garden.*  In  a  little  while  he 
noticed  that  the  man  got  lonesome ;  that  he  wan 
dered  around  as  if  he  was  waiting  for  a  train. 
There  was  nothing  to  interest  him ;  no  news ;  no 
papers ;  no  politics ;  no  policy ;  and,  as  the  devil 
had  not  yet  made  his  appearance,  there  was  no  * 
chance  for  reconciliation ;  not  even  for  civil  service 
reform.  Well,  he  wandered  about  the  garden  in 
this  condition,  until  finally  the  Supreme  Being  made 
up  his  mind  to  make  him  a  companion. 

Having  used  up  all  the  nothing  he  originally 
took  in  making  the  world  and  one  man,  he  had  to 
take  a  part  of  the  man  to  start  a  woman  with.  So 
he  caused  a  sleep  to  fall  on  this  man — now  under 
stand  me,  I  do  not  say  this  story  is  true.  After 
the  sleep  fell  upon  this  man,  the  Supreme  Being 
took  a  rib,  or  as  the  French  would  call  it,  a  cutlet, 
out  of  this  man,  and  from  that  he  made  a  woman. 
And  considering  the  amount  of  raw  material  used, 
I  look  upon  it  as  the  most  successful  job  ever  per 
formed.  Well,  after  he  got  the  woman  done,  she 


104  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

was  brought  to  the  man ;  not  to  see  how  she  liked 
him,  but  to  see  how  he  liked  her.  He  liked  her, 
and  they  started  housekeeping ;  and  they  were  told 
of  certain  things  they  might  do  and  of  one  thing 
they  could  not  do — and  of  course  they  did  it.  I 
would  have  done  it  in  fifteen  minutes,  and  I  know 
it.  There  wouldn't  have  been  an  apple  on  that 
tree  half  an  hour  from  date,  and  the  limbs  would 
have  been  full  of  clubs.  And  then  they  were 
turned  out  of  the  park  and  extra-  policemen  were 
put  on  to  keep  them  from  getting  back. 

Devilment  commenced.  The  mumps,  and  the 
measles,  and  the  whooping-cough,  and  the  scarlet 
fever  started  in  their  race  for  man.  They  began  to 
have  the  toothache,  roses  began  to  have  thorns, 
snakes  began  to  have  poisoned  teeth,  and  people 
began  to  divide  about  religion  and  politics,  and  the 
world  has  been  full  of  trouble  from  that  day  to  this. 

Nearly  all  of  the  religions  of  this  world  account 
for  the  existence  of  evil  by  such  a  story  as  that ! 

I  read  in  another  book  what  appeared  to  be  an 
account  of  the  same  transaction.  It  was  written 
about  four  thousand  years  before  the  other.  All 
commentators  agree  that  the  one  that  was  written 
last  was  the  original,  and  that  the  one  that  was 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  105 

written  first  was  copied  from  the  one  that  was 
written  last.  But  I  would  advise  you  all  not  to 
allow  your  creed  to  be  disturbed  by  a  little  matter 
of  four  or  five  thousand  years.  In  this  other  story, 
Brahma  made  up  his  mind  to  make  the  world  and  a 
man  and  woman.  He  made  the  world,  and  he 
made  the  man  and  then  the  woman,  and  put  them 
on  the  island  of  Ceylon.  According  to  the  account 
it  was  the  most  beautiful  island  of  which  man  can 
conceive.  Such  birds,  such  songs,  such  flowers  and 
such  verdure !  And  the  branches  of  the  trees  were 
so  arranged  that  when  the  wind  swept  through 
them  every  tree  was  a  thousand  /Eolian  harps. 

Brahma,  when  he  put  them  there,  said:  "Let 
them  have  a  period  of  courtship,  for  it  is  my  desire 
and  will  that  true  love  should  forever  precede 
marriage."  When  I  read  that,  it  was  so  much 
more  beautiful  and  lofty  than  the  other,  that  I  said 
to  myself,  "  If  either  one  of  these  stories  ever  turns 
out  to  be  true,  I  hope  it  will  be  this  one." 

Then  they  had  their  courtship,  with  the  nightin 
gale  singing,  and  the  stars  shining,  and  the  flowers 
blooming,  and  they  fell  in  love.  Imagine  that 
courtship !  No  prospective  fathers  or  mothers-in- 
law;  no  prying  and  gossiping  neighbors;  nobody 


100  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

to  say,  "Young  man,  how  do  you  expect  to  support 
her?"  Nothing  of  that  kind.  They  were  married 
by  the  Supreme  Brahma,  and  he  said  to  them : 
"Remain  here;  you  must  never  leave  this  island." 
Well,  after  a  little  while  the  man  —  and  his  name 
was  Adami,  and  the  woman's  name  was  Heva  — 
said  to  Heva:  "  I  believe  I'll  look  about  a  little." 
He  went  to  the  northern  extremity  of  the  island 
where  there  was  a  little  narrow  neck  of  land  con 
necting  it  with  the  mainland,  and  the  devil,  who  is 
always  playing  pranks  with  us,  produced  a  mirage, 
and  when  he  looked  over  to  the  mainland,  such 
hills  and  vales,  such  dells  and  dales,  such  mountains 
crowned  with  snow,  such  cataracts  clad  in  bows  of 
glory  did  he  see  there,  that  he  went  back  and  told 
Heva:  "The  country  over  there  is  a  thousand 
times  better  than  this;  let  us  migrate."  She,  like 
every  other  woman  that  ever  lived,  said:  "  Let  well 
enough  alone ;  we  have  all  we  want ;  let  us  stay 
here."  But  he  said  "No,  let  us  go;"  so  she  fol 
lowed  him,  and  when  they  came  to  this  narrow 
neck  of  land,  he  took  her  on  his  back  like  a  gen 
tleman,  and  carried  her  over.  But  the  moment 
they  got  over  they  heard  a  crash,  and  looking  back, 
.discovered  that  this  narrow  neck  of  land  had  fallen 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  107 

into  the  sea.  The  mirage  had  disappeared,  and 
there  were  naught  but  rocks  and  sand;  and  then 
the  Supreme  Brahma  cursed  them  both  to  the 
lowest  hell. 

Then  it  was  that  the  man  spoke, —  and  I  have 
liked  him  ever  since  for  it — "Curse  me,  but  curse 
not  her,  it  was  not  her  fault,  it  was  mine." 

That's  the  kind  of  man  to  start  a  world  with. 

The  Supreme  Brahma  said:  "I  will  save  her, 
but  not  thee."  And  then  she  spoke  out  of  her 
fullness  of  love,  out  of  a  heart  in  which  there  was 
love  enough  to  make  all  her  daughters  rich  in  holy 

affection,   and  said:    "  If  thou   wilt  not  spare  him, 

• 

spare  neither  me ;  I  do  not  wish  to  live  without 
him;  I  love  him."  Then  the  Supreme  Brahma 
said — and  I  have  liked  him  ever  since  I  read  it  — 
"I  will  spare  you  both  and  watch  over  you  and 
your  children  forever." 

Honor  bright,  is  not  that  the  better  and  grander 
story  ? 

And  from  that  same  book  I  want  to  show  you 
what  ideas  some  of  these  miserable  heathen  had; 
the  heathen  we  are  trying  to  convert.  We  send 
missionaries  over  yonder  to  convert  heathen  there, 
and  we  send  soldiers  out  on  the  plains  to  kill 


108  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

heathen  here.  If  we  can  convert  the  heathen,  why 
not  convert  those  nearest  home  ?  Why  not  convert 
those  we  can  get  at?  Why  not  convert  those  who 
have  the  immense  advantage  of  the  example  of 
the  average  pioneer?  But  to  show  you  the  men 
we  are  trying  to  convert:  In  this  book  it  says: 
"Man  is  strength,  woman  is  beauty;  man  is  cour 
age,  woman  is  love.  When  the  one  man  loves  the 
one  woman  and  the  one  woman  loves  the  one  man, 
the  very  angels  leave  heaven  and  come  and  sit  in 
that  house  and  sing  for  joy." 

They  are  the  men  we  are  converting.  Think 
of  it!  I  tell  you,  when  I  read  these  things,  I  say 
that  love  is  not  of  any  country ;  nobility  does  not 
belong  exclusively  to  any  race,  and  through  all  the 
ages,  there  have  been  a  few  great  and  tender  souls 
blossoming  in  love  and  pity. 

In  my  judgment,  the  woman  is  the  equal  of  the 
man.  She  has  all  the  rights  I  have  and  one  more, 
and  that  is  the  right  to  be  protected.  That  is  my 
doctrine.  You  are  married ;  try  and  make  the 
woman  you  love  happy.  Whoever  marries  simply 
for  himself  will  make  a  mistake ;  but  whoever  loves 
a  woman  so  well  that  he  says  "  I  will  make  her 
happy,"  makes  no  mistake.  And  so  with  the 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  109 

woman  who  says,  "  I  will  make  him  happy."  There 
is  only  one  way  to  be  happy,  and  that  is  to  make 
somebody  else  so,  and  you  cannot  be  happy  by 
going  cross  lots;  you  have  got  to  go  the  regular 
turnpike  road. 

If  there  is  any  man  I  detest,  it  is  the  man  who 
thinks  he  is  the  head  of  a  family  —  the  man  who 
thinks  he  is  "boss!".  The  fellow  in  the  dug-out 
used  that  word  "  boss ; "  that  was  one  of  his  favorite 
expressions. 

Imagine  a  young  man  and  a  young  woman 
courting,  walking  out  in  the  moonlight,  and  the 
nightingale  singing  a  song  of  pain  and  love,  as 
though  the  thorn  touched  her  heart — imagine  them 
stopping  there  in  the  moonlight  and  starlight  and 
song,  and  saying,  "  Now,  here,  let  us  settle  who  is 
'  boss !  "  I  tell  you  it  is  an  infamous  word  and  an 
infamous  feeling  —  I  abhor  a  man  who  is  "boss," 
who  is  going  to  -govern  in  his  family,  and  when  he 
speaks  orders  all  the  rest  to  be  still  as  some  mighty 
idea  is  about  to  be  launched  from  his  mouth.  Do 
you  know  I  dislike  this  man  unspeakably? 

I  hate  above  all  things  a  cross  man.  What 
right  has  he  to  murder  the  sunshine  of  a  day? 
What  right  has  he  to  assassinate  the  joy  of  life? 


110  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

When  you  go  home  you  ought  to  go  like  a  ray  of 
light  —  so  that  it  will,  even  in  the  night,  burst  out 
of  the  doors  and  windows  and  illuminate  the 
darkness.  Some  men  think  their  mighty  brains 
have  been  in  a  turmoil ;  they  have  been  thinking 
about  who  will  be  alderman  from  the  fifth  ward; 
they  have  been  thinking  about  politics ;  great  and 
mighty  questions  have  been  engaging  their  minds; 
they  have  bought  calico  at  five  cents  or  six,  and 
want  to  sell  it  for  seven.  Think  of  the  intellectual 
strain  that  must  have  been  upon  that  man,  and 
when  he  gets  home  everybody  else  in  the  house 
must  look  out  for  his  comfort.  A  woman  who  has 
only  taken  care  of  five  or  six  children,  and  one  or 
two  of  them  sick,  has  been  nursing  them  and 
singing  to  them,  and  trying  to  make  one  yard  of 
cloth  do  the  work  of  two,  she,  of  course,  is  fresh 
and  fine  and  ready  to  wait  upon  this  gentleman — 
the  head  of  the  family  —  the  boss! 

Dp  you  know  another  thing?  I  despise  a 
stingy  man.  I  do  not  see  how  it  is  possible  for  a 
man  to  die  worth  fifty  million  of  dollars,  or  ten 
million  of  dollars,  in  a  city  full  of  want,  when  he 
meets  almost  every  day  the  withered  hand  of 
beggary  and  the  white  lips  of  famine.  How  a 


MAN,    WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  Ill 

man  can  withstand  all  that,  and  hold  in  the  clutch 
of  his  greed  twenty  or  thirty  million  of  dollars,  is 
past  my  comprehension.  I  do  not  see  how  he  can 
do  it.  I  should  not  think  he  could  do  it  any  more 
than  he  could  keep  a  pile  of  lumber  on  the  beach, 
where  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men  were 
drowning  in  the  sea. 

Do  you  know  that  I  have  known  men  who 
would  trust  their  wives  with  their  hearts  and  their 
honor  but  not  with  their  pocketbook;  not  with  a 
dollar.  When  I  see  a  man  of  that  kind,  I  always 
think  he  knows  which  of  these  articles  is  the  most 
valuable.  Think  of  making  your  wife  a  beggar! 
Think  of  her  having  to  ask  you  every  day  for  a 
dollar,  or  for  two  dollars  or  fifty  cents!  "What 
did  you  do  with  that  dollar  I  gave  you  last  week?" 
Think  of  having  a  wife  that  is  afraid  of  you! 
What  kind  of  children  do  you  expect  to  have  with 
a  beggar  and  a  coward  for  their  mother?  Oh,  I 
tell  you  if  you  have  but  a  dollar  in  the  world,  and 
you  have  got  to  spend  it,  spend  it  like  a  king; 
spend  it  as  though  it  were  a  dry  leaf  and  you  the 
owner  of  unbounded  forests !  That 's  the  way  to 
spend  it !  I  had  rather  be  a  beggar  and  spend  my 
last  dollar  like  a  king,  than  be  a  king  and  spend 


112  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

my  money  like  a  beggar !  If  it  has  got  to  go,  let 
it  go! 

Get  the  best  you  can  for  your  family — try  to 
look  as  well  as  you  can  yourself.  When  you  used 
to  go  courting,  how  elegantly  you  looked!  Ah, 
your  eye  was  bright,  your  step  was  light,  and  you 
looked  like  a  prince.  Do  you  know  that  it  is 
insufferable  egotism  in  you  to  suppose  a  woman  is 
going  to  love  you  always  looking  as  slovenly  as 
you  can!  Think  of  it!  Any  good  woman  on 
earth  will  be  true  to  you  forever  when  you  do  your 
level  best. 

Some  people  tell  me,  "Your  doctrine  about 
loving,  and  wives,  and  all  that,  is  splendid  for  the 
rich,  but  it  won't  do  for  the  poor."  I  tell  you 
to-night  there  is  more  love  in  the  homes  of  the 
poor  than  in  the  palaces  of  the  rich.  The  meanest 
hut  with  love  in  it  is  a  palace  fit  for  the  gods,  and 
a  palace  without  love  is  a  den  only  fit  for  wild 
beasts.  That  is  my  doctrine !  You  cannot  be  so 
poor  that  you  cannot  help  somebody.  Good 
nature  is  the  cheapest  commodity  in  the  world ; 
and  love  is  the  only  thing  that  will  pay  ten  per 
cent,  to  borrower  and  lender  both.  Do  not  tell  me 
that  you  have  got  to  be  rich!  We  have  a  false 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  113 

standard  of  greatness  in  the  United  States.  We 
think  here  that  a  man  must  be  great,  that  he  must 
be  notorious ;  that  he  must  be  extremely  wealthy, 
or  that  his  name  must  be  upon  the  putrid  lips 
of  rumor.  It  is  all  a  mistake.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  be  rich  or  to  be  great,  or  to  be  powerful,  to  be 
happy.  The  happy  man  is  the  successful  man. 

Happiness  is  the  legal  tender  of  the  soul. 

Joy  is  wealth. 

A  little  while  ago,  I  stood  by  the  grave  of  the 
old  Napoleon  —  a  magnificent  tomb  of  gilt  and 
gold,  fit  almost  for  a  dead  deity  —  and  gazed  upon 
the  sarcophagus  'of  black  Egyptian  marble,  where 
rest  at  last  the  ashes  of  that  restless  man.  I 
leaned  over  the  balustrade  and  thought  about  the 
career  of  the  greatest  soldier  of  the  modern  world. 

I  saw  him  walking  upon  the  banks  of  the  Seine, 
contemplating  suicide.  I  saw  him  at  Toulon  —  I 
saw  him  putting  down  the  mob  in  the  streets  of 
Paris  —  I  saw  him  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  Italy 
-I  saw  him  crossing  the  bridge  of  Lodi  with 
the  tri-color  in  his  hand — I  saw  him  in  Egypt  in 
the  shadows  of  the  pyramids  —  I  saw  him  conquer 
the  Alps  and  mingle  the  eagles  of  France  with  the 
eagles  of  the  crags.  I  saw  him  at  Marengo  —  at 


114  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

Ulm  and  Austerlitz.  I  saw  him  in  Russia,  where 
the  infantry  of  the  snow  and  the  cavalry  of  the  wild 
blast  scattered  his  legions  like  winter's  withered 
leaves.  I  saw  him  at  Leipsic  in  defeat  and  disaster 
— driven  by  a  million  bayonets  back  upon  Paris  — 
clutched  like  a  wild  beast — banished  to  Elba.  I 
saw  him  escape  and  retake  an  empire  by  the  force 
of  his  genius.  I  saw  him  upon  the  frightful  field  of 
Waterloo,  where  Chance  and  Fate  combined  to 
wreck  the  fortunes  of  their  former  king.  And  I 
saw  him  at  St.  Helena,  with  his  hands  crossed 
behind  him,  gazing  out  upon  the  sad  and  solemn 
sea. 

I  thought  of  the  orphans  and  widows  he  had 
made — of  the  tears  that  had  been  shed  for  his 
glory,  and  of  the  only  woman  who  ever  loved  him, 
pushed  from  his  heart  by  the  cold  hand  of 
ambition.  And  I  said  I  would  rather  have  been  a 
French  peasant  and  worn  wooden  shoes.  I  would 
rather  have  lived  in  a  hut  with  a  vine  growing  over 
the  door,  and  the  grapes  growing  purple  in  the 
kisses  of  the  autumn  sun.  I  would  rather  have 
been  that  poor  peasant  with  my  loving  wife  by  my 
side,  knitting  as  the  day  died  out  of  the  sky  —  with 
my  children  upon  my  knees  and  their  arms  about 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  115 

me  —  I  would  rather  have  been  that  man  and  gone 
down  to  the  tongueless  silence  of  the  dreamless 
dust,  than  to  have  been  that  imperial  impersonation 
of  force  and  murder. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  be  great  to  be  happy ;  it 
is  not  necessary  to  be  rich  to  be  just  and  generous 
and  to  have  a  heart  filled  with  divine  affection. 
No  matter  whether  you  are  rich  or  poor,  treat  your 
wife  as  though  she  were  a  splendid  flower,  and  she 
will  fill  your  life  with  perfume  and  with  joy. 

And  do  you  know,  it  is  a  splendid  thing  to 
think  that  the  woman  you  really  love  will  never 
grow  old  to  you.  Through  the  wrinkles  of  time, 
through  the  mask  of  years,  if  you  really  love  her, 
you  will  always  see  the  face  you  loved  and  won. 
And  a  woman  who  really  loves  a  man  does  not  see 
that  he  grows  old;  he  is  not  decrepit  to  her;  he 
does  not  tremble ;  he  is  not  old ;  she  always  sees 
the  same  gallant  gentleman  who  won  her  hand  and 
heart.  I  like  to  think  of  it  in  that  way ;  I  like  to 
think  that  love  is  eternal.  And  to  love  in  that  way 
and  then  go  down  the  hill  of  life  together,  and  as 
you  go  down,  hear,  perhaps,  the  laughter  of 
grandchildren,  while  the  birds  of  joy  and  love  sing 
once  more  in  the  leafless  branches  of  the  tree 
of  age. 


116        •  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

I  believe  in  the  fireside.  I  believe  in  the 
democracy  of  home.  I  believe  in  the  republicanism 
of  the  family.  I  believe  in  liberty,  equality  and 
love. 

THE  LIBERTY  OF  CHILDREN. 

If  women  have  been  slaves,  what  shall  I  say  of 
children;  of  the  little  children  in  alleys  and 
sub-cellars ;  the  little  children  who  turn  pale  when 
they  hear  their  fathers'  footsteps ;  little  children  who 
run  away  when  they  only  hear  their  names  called 
by  the  lips  of  a  mother;  little  children  —  the 
children  of  poverty,  the  children  of  crime,  the 
children  of  brutality,  wherever  they  are  —  flotsam 
and  jetsam  upon  the  wild,  mad  sea  of  life  —  my 
heart  goes  out  to  them,  one  and  all. 

I  tell  you  the  children  have  the  same  rights  that 
we  have,  and  we  ought  to  treat  them  as  though 
they  were  human  beings.  They  should  be  reared 
with  love,  with  kindness,  with  tenderness,  and  not 
with  brutality.  That  is  my  idea  of  children 

When  your  little  child  tells  a  lie,  do  not  rush  at 
him  as  though  the  world  were  about  to  go  into 
bankruptcy.  Be  honest  with  him.  A  tyrant  father 
will  have  liars  for  his  children;  do  you  know  that? 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  117 

A  lie  is  born  of  tyranny 'upon  the  one  hand  and 
weakness  upon  the  other,  and  when  you  rush  at  a 
poor  little  boy  with  a  club  in  your  hand,  of  course 
he  lies. 

I  thank  thee,  Mother  Nature,  that  thou  hast  put 
ingenuity  enough  in  the  brain  of  a  child,  when 
attacked  by  a  brutal  parent,  to  throw  up  a  little 
breastwork  in  the  shape  of  a  lie. 

When  one  of  your  children  tells  a  lie,  be  honest 
with  him ;  tell  him  that  you  have  told  hundreds  of 
them  yourself.  Tell  him  it  is  not  the  best  way; 
that  you  have  tried  it.  Tell  him  as  the  man  did  in 
Maine  when  his  boy  left  home:  "John,  honesty  is 
the  best  policy;  I  have  tried  both."  Be  honest 
with  him.  Suppose  a  man  as  much  larger  than  you 
as  you  are  larger  than  a  child  five  years  old,  should 
come  at  you  with  a  liberty  pole  in  his  hand,  and  in 
a  voice  of  thunder  shout,  "Who  broke  that  plate?" 
There  is  not  a  solitary  one  of  you  who  would  not 
swear  you  never  saw  it,  or  that  it  was  cracked 
when  you  got  it.  Why  not  be  honest  with  these 
children?  Just  imagine  a  man  who  deals  in  stocks 
whipping  his  boy  for  putting  false  rumors  afloat! 
Think  of  a  lawyer  beating  his  own  flesh  and  blood 
for  evading  the  truth  when  he  makes  half  of  his 


118  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

own  living  that  way !  Think  of  a  minister 
punishing  his  child  for  not  telling  all  he  thinks ! 
Just  think  of  it ! 

When  your  child  commits  a  wrong,  take  it  in 
your  arms ;  let  it  feel  your  heart  beat  against  its 
heart ;  let  the  child  know  that  you  really  and  truly 
and  sincerely  love  it.  Yet  some  Christians,  good 
Christians,  when  a  child  commits  a  fault,  drive  it 
from  the  door  and  say:  "Never  do  you  darken  this 
house  again."  Think  of  that!  And  then  these 
same  people  will  get  down  on  their  knees  and  ask 
God  to  take  care  of  the  child  they,  have  driven 
from  home.  I  will  never  ask  God  to  take  care  of 
my  children  unless  I  am  doing  my  level  best  in  that 
same  direction. 

But  I  will  tell  you  what  I  say  to  my  children : 
"  Go  where  you  will ;  commit  what  crime  you  may; 
fall  to  what  depth  of  degradation  you  may;  you 
can  never  commit  any  crime  that  will  shut  my  door, 
my  arms,  or  my  heart  to  you.  As  long  as  I  live 
you  shall  have  one  sincere  friend." 

Do  you  know  that  I  have  seen  some  people 
who  acted  as  though  they  thought  that  when  the 
Saviour  said  "  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  he  had  a 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  119 

raw-hide  under  his  mantle,  and  made  that  remark 
simply  to  get  the  children  within  striking  distance? 

I  do  not  believe  in  the  government  of  the  lash. 
If  any  one  of  you  ever  expects  to  whip  your  chil 
dren  again,  I  want  you  to  have  a  photograph  taken 
of  yourself  when  you  are  in  the  act,  with  your  face 
red  with  vulgar  anger,  and  the  face  of  the  little 
child,  with  eyes  swimming  in  tears  and  the  little 
chin  dimpled  with  fear,  like  a  piece  of  water  struck 
by  a  sudden  cold  wind.  Have  the  picture  taken. 
If  that  little  child  should  die,  I  cannot  think  of  a 
sweeter  way  to  spend  an  autumn  afternoon  than  to 
go  out  to  the  cemetery,  when  the  maples  are  clad 
in  tender  gold,  and  little  scarlet  runners  are  coming, 
like  poems  of  regret,  from  the  sad  heart  of  the 
earth  —  and  sit  down  upon  the  grave  and  look  at 
that  photograph,  and  think  of  the  flesh  now  dust 
that  you  beat.  I  tell  you  it  is  wrong ;  it  is  no  way 
to  raise  children !  Make  your  home  happy.  Be 
honest  with  them.  Divide  fairly  with  them  in 
everything. 

Give  them  a  little  liberty  and  love,  and  you  can 
not  drive  them  out  of  your  house.  They  will  want 
to  stay  there.  Make  home  pleasant.  Let  them 
play  any  game  they  wish.  Do  not  be  so  foolish  as 


120  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

to  say:  "You may  roll  balls  on  the  ground,  but  you 
must  not  roll  them  on  a  green  cloth.  You  may 
knock  them  with  a  mallet,  but  you  must  not  push 
them  with  a  cue.  You  may  play  with  little  pieces 
of  paper  which  have  '  authors '  written  on  them,  but 
you  must  not  have  'cards."  Think  of  it!  "You 
may  go  to  a  minstrel  show  where  people  blacken 
themselves  and  imitate  humanity  below  them,  but 
you  must  not  go  to  a  theatre  and  see  the  characters 
created  by  immortal  genius  put  upon  the  stage." 
Why?  Well,  I  can't  think  of  any  reason  in  the 
world  except  "minstrel"  is  a  word  of  two  syllables, 
and  "theatre"  has  three. 

Let  children  have  some  daylight  at  home  if  you 
want  to  keep  them  there,  and  do  not  commence  at 
the  cradle  and  shout  "Don't!"  "Don't!"  "Stop!" 
That  is  nearly  all  that  is  said  to  a  child  from 
the  cradle  until  he  is  twenty-one  years  old,  and 
when  he  comes  of  age  other  people  begin  saying 
"Don't!"  And  the  church  says  "Don't?"  and 
the  party  he  belongs  to  says  "Don't!  " 

I  despise  that  way  of  going  through  this  world. 
Let  us  have  liberty — just  a  little.  Call  me  infidel, 
call  me  atheist,  call  me  what  you  will,  I  intend  so  to 
treat  my  children,  that  they  can  come  to  my  grave 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  121 

and  truthfully  say:  "He  who  sleeps  here  never 
gave  us  a  moment  of  pain.  From  his  lips,  now 
dust,  never  came  to  us  an  unkind  word." 

People  justify  all  kinds  of  tyranny  towards 
children  upon  the  ground  that  they  are  totally 
depraved.  At  the  bottom  of  ages  of  cruelty  lies 
this  infamous  doctrine  of  total  depravity.  Religion 
contemplates  a  child  as  a  living  crime  —  heir  to  an 
infinite  curse  —  doomed  to  eternal  fire. 

In  the  olden  time,  they  thought  some  days  were 
too  good  for  a  child  to  enjoy  himself.  When  I  was 
a  boy  Sunday  was  considered  altogether  too  holy 
to  be  happy  in.  Sunday  used  to  commence  then 
when  the  sun  went  down  on  Saturday  night.  We 
commenced  at  that  time  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
a  good  ready,  and  when  the  sun  fell  below  the 
horizon  on  Saturday  evening,  there  was  a  darkness 
fell  upon  the  house  ten  thousand  times  deeper 
than  that  of  night.  Nobody  said  a  pleasant  word ; 
nobody  laughed ;  nobody  smiled ;  the  child  that 
looked  the  sickest  was  regarded  as  the  most  pious. 
That  night  you  could  not  even  crack  hickory  nuts. 
If  you  were  caught  chewing  gum  it  was  only 
another  evidence  of  the  total  depravity  of  the 
human  heart.  It  was  an  exceedingly  solemn  night. 


122  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

Dyspepsia  was  in  the  very  air  you  breathed. 
Everybody  looked  sad  and  mournful.  I  have 
noticed  'all  my  life  that  many  people  think  they 
have  religion  when  they  are  troubled  with  dys 
pepsia.  If  there  could  be  found  an  absolute 
specific  for  that  disease,  it  would  be  the  hardest 
blow  the  church  has  ever  received. 

On  Sunday  morning  the  solemnity  had  simply 
increased.  Then  we  went  to  church.  The 
minister  was  in  a  pulpit  about  twenty  feet  high, 
with  a  little  sounding-board  above  him,  and  he 
commenced  at  "firstly"  and  went  on  and  on  and 
on  to  about  "twenty- thirdly."  Then  he  made  a 
few  remarks  by  way  of  application ;  and  then  took 
a  general  view  of  the  subject,  and  in  about  two 
hours  reached  the  last  chapter  in  Revelations. 

In  those  days,  no  matter  how  cold  the  weather 
was,  there  was  no  fire  in  the  church.  It  was 
thought  to  be  a  kind  of  sin  to  be  comfortable  while 
you  were  thanking  God.  The  first  church  that 
ever  had  a  stove  in  it  in  New  England,  divided  on 
that  account.  So  the  first  church  in  which  they 
sang  by  note,  was  torn  in  fragments. 

After  the  sermon  we  had  an  intermission. 
Then  came  the  catechism  with  the  chief  end  of 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  123 

man.  We  went  through  with  that.  We  sat  in  a 
row  with  our  feet  coming  in  about  six  inches  of  the 
floor.  The  minister  asked  us  if  we  knew  that  we 
all  deserved  to  go  to  hell,  and  we  all  answered 
"Yes."  Then  we  were  asked  if  we  would  be  will 
ing  to  go  hell  if  it  was  God's  will,  and  every  little 
liar  shouted  "Yes."  Then  the  same  sermon  was 
preached  once  more,  commencing  at  the  other  end 
and  going  back.  After  that,  we  started  for  home, 
sad  and  solemn — overpowered  with  the  wisdom 
displayed  in  the  scheme  of  the  atonement.  When 
we  got  home,  if  we  had  been  good  boys,  and  the 
weather  was  warm,  sometimes  they  would  take  us 
out  to  the  graveyard  to  cheer  us  up  a  little.  It  did 
cheer  me.  When  I  looked  at  the  sunken  tombs 
and  the  leaning  stones,  and  read  the  half-effaced 
inscriptions  through  the  moss  of  silence  and  forget- 
fulness,  it  was  a  great  comfort.  The  reflection 
came  to  my  mind  that  the  observance  of  the  Sab 
bath  could  not  last  always.  Sometimes  they  would 
sing  that  beautiful  hymn  in  which  occurs  these 
cheerful  lines : 

"Where  congregations  ne'er  break  up, 
And  Sabbaths  never  end." 

These    lines,    I    think,    prejudiced   me    a   little 


124  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

against  even  heaven.  Then  we  had  good  books 
that  we  read  on  Sundays  by  way  of  keeping  us 
happy  and  contented.  There  were  Milners' 
"History  of  the  Waldenses,"  Baxter's  "Call  to  the 
Unconverted,"  Yahn's  "Archaeology  of  the  Jews," 
and  Jenkins'  "On  the  Atonement."  I  used  to  read 
Jenkins'  "On  the  Atonement."  I  have  often 
thought  that  an  atonement  would  have  to  be 
exceedingly  broad  in  its  provisions  to  cover  the 
case  of  a  man  who  would  write  a  book  like  that 
for  a  boy. 

But  at  last  the  Sunday  wore  away,  and  the 
moment  the  sun  went  down  we  were  free.-  Be 
tween  three  and  four  o'clock  we  would  go  out  to 
see  how  the  sun  was  coming  on.  Sometimes  it 
seemed  to  me  that  it  was  stopping  from  pure 
meanness.  But  finally  4t  went  down.  It  had  to. 
And  when  the  last  rim  of  light  sank  below  the 
horizon,  off  would  go  our  caps,  and  we  would  give 
three  cheers  for  liberty  once  more. 

Sabbaths  used  to  be  prisons.  Every  Sunday 
was  a  Bastile.  Every  Christian  was  a  kind  of  turn 
key,  and  every  child  was  a  prisoner, — a  convict. 
In  that  dungeon,  a  smile  was  a  crime. 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  125 

It  was  thought  wrong  for  a  child  to  laugh  upon 
this  holy  day.  Think  of  that! 

A  little  child  would  go  out  into  the  garden,  and 
there  would  be  a  tree  laden  with  blossoms,  and  the 
little  fellow  would  lean  against  it,  and  there  would 
be  a  bird  on  one  of  the  boughs,  singing  and  swing 
ing,  and  thinking  about  four  little  speckled  eggs, 
warmed  by  the  breast  of  its  mate, —  singing  and 
swinging,  and  the  music  in  happy  waves  rippling 
out  of  its  tiny  throat,  and  the  flowers  blossoming, 
the  air  filled  with  perfume  and  the  great  white 
clouds  floating  in  the  sky,  and  the  little  boy  would 
lean  up  against  that  tree  and  think  about  hell  and 
the  worm  that  never  dies. 

I  have  heard  them  preach,  when  I  sat  in  the 
pew  and  my  feet  did  not  touch  the  floor,  about  the 
final  home  of  the  unconverted.  In  order  to  impress 
upon  the  children  the  length  of  time  they  would 
probably  stay  if  they  settled  in  that  country,  the 
preacher  would  frequently  give  us  the  following 
illustration:  "Suppose  that  once  in  a  billion  years 
a  bird  should  come  from  some  far-distant  planet, 
and  carry  off  in  its  little  bill  a  grain  of  sand,  a  time 
would  finally  come  when  the  last  atom  composing 
this  earth  would  be  carried  away ;  and  when  this 


126  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

last  atom  was  taken,  it  would  not  even  be  sun 
up  in  hell."  Think  of  such  an  infamous  doctrine 
being  taught  to  children ! 

The  laugh  of  a  child  will  make  the  holiest  day 
more  sacred  still.  Strike  with  hand  of  fire,  O 
weird  musician,  thy  harp  strung  with  Apollo's 
golden  hair;  fill  the  vast  cathedral  aisles  with 
symphonies  sweet  and  dim,  deft  toucher  of  the 
organ  keys;  blow,  bugler,  blow,  until  thy  silver 
notes  do  touch  and  kiss  the  moonlit  waves,  and 
charm  the  lovers  wandering  'mid  the  vine-clad  hills. 
But  know,  your  sweetest  strains  are  discords  all, 
compared  with  childhood's  happy  laugh — the  laugh 
that  fills  the  eyes  with  light  and  every  heart  with 
joy.  O  rippling  river  of  laughter,  thou  art  the 
blessed  boundary  line  between  the  beasts  and  men ; 
and  every  wayward  wave  of  thine  doth  drown  some 
fretful  fiend  of  care.  O  Laughter,  rose-lipped 
daughter  of  Joy,  there  are  dimples  enough  in  thy 
cheeks  to  catch  and  hold  and  glorify  all  the  tears 
of  grief. 

And  yet  the  minds  of  children  have  been 
polluted  by  this  infamous  doctrine  of  eternal 
punishment.  I  denounce  it  to-day  as  a  doctrine, 
the  infamy  of  which  no  language  is  sufficient  to 
express. 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND  CHILD.  127 

Where  did  that  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment 
for  men  and  women  and  children  come  from?  It 
came  from  the  low  and  beastly  skull  of  that  wretch 
in  the  dug-out.  Where  did  he  get  it?  It  was  a 
souvenir  from  the  animals.  The  doctrine  of  eternal 
punishment  was  born  in  the  glittering  eyes  of 
snakes  —  snakes  that  hung  in  fearful  coils  watching 
for  their  prey.  It  was  born  of  the  howl  and  bark 
and  growl  of  wild  beasts.  It  was  born  of  the  grin 
of  hyenas  and  of  the  depraved  chatter  of  unclean 
baboons.  I  despise  it  with  every  drop  of  my 
blood.  Tell  me  there  is  a  God  in  the  serene 
heavens  that  will  damn  his  children  for  the 
expression  of  an  honest  belief!  More  men  have 
died  in  their  sins,  judged  by  your  orthodox  creeds, 
than  there  are  leaves  on  all  the  forests  in  the  wide 
world  ten  thousand  times  over.  Tell  me  these  men 
are  in  hell ;  that  these  men  are  in  torment ;  that 
these  children  are  in  eternal  pain,  and  rhat  they 
are  to  be  punished  forever  and  forever !  I  denounce 
this  doctrine  as  the  most  infamous  of  lies. 

When  the  great  ship  containing  the  hopes  and 
aspifations  of  the  world,  when  the  great  ship 
freighted  with  mankind  goes  down  in  the  night  of 
death,  chaos  and  disaster,  I  am  willing  to  go 


128  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

down  with  the  ship.  I  will  not  be  guilty  of  the 
ineffable  meanness  of  paddling  away  in  some  or 
thodox  canoe.  I  will  go  down  with  the  ship,  with 
those  who  love  me,  and  with  those  whom  I  have 
loved.  If  there  is  a  God  who  will  damn  his 
children  forever,  I  would  rather  go  to  hell  than  to 
go  to  heaven  and  keep  the  society  of  such  an  in 
famous  tyrant.  I  make  my  choice  now.  I  despise 
that  doctrine.  It  has  covered  the  cheeks  of  this 
world  with  tears.  It  has  polluted  the  hearts  of 
children,  and  poisoned  the  imaginations  of  men.  It 
has  been  a  constant  pain,  a  perpetual  terror  to 
every  good  man  and  woman  and  child.  It  has 
filled  the  good  with  horror  and  with  fear;  but  it  has 
had  no  effect  upon  the  infamous  and  base.  It  has 
wrung  the  hearts  of  the  tender :  it  has  furrowed  the 
cheeks  of  the  good.  This  doctrine  never  should 
be  preached  again.  What  right  have  you,  sir,  Mn 
clergyman^  you,  minister  of  the  gospel,  to  stand  at 
the  portals  of  the  tomb,  at  the  vestibule  of  eternity, 
and  fill  the  future  with  horror  and  with  fear?  I  do 
not  believe  this  doctrine:  neither  do  you.  If  you 
did,  you  could  not  sleep  one  moment.  Any  <nan 
who  believes  it,  and  has  within  his  breast  a  decent, 
throbbing  heart,  will  go  insane.  A  man  who 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  129 

believes  that  doctrine  and  does  not  go  insane  has 
the  heart  of  a  snake  and  the  conscience  of  a 
hyena. 

Jonathan  Edwards,  the  dear  old  soul,  who,  if 
his  doctrine  is  true,  is  now  in  heaven  rubbing  his 
holy  hands  with  glee,  as  he  hears  the  cries  of  the 
damned,  preached  this  doctrine ;  and  he  said : 
"Can  the  believing  husband  in  heaven  be  happy 
with  his  unbelieving  wife  in  hell?  Can  the 
believing  father  in  heaven  be  happy  with  his 
unbelieving  children  in  hell?  Can  the  loving  wife 
in  heaven  be  happy  with  her  unbelieving  husband 
in  hell?"  And  he  replies:  "I  tell  you,  yea.  Such 
will  be  their  sense  of  justice,  that  it  will  increase 
rather  than  diminish  their  bliss."  There  is  no  wild 
beast  in  the  jungles  of  Africa  whose  reputation 
would  not  be  tarnished  by  the  expression  of  such  a 
doctrine. 

These  doctrines  have  been  taught  in  the  name 
of  religion,  in  the  name  of  universal  forgiveness,  in 
the  name  of  infinite  love  and  charity.  Do  not,  I 
pray  you,  soil  the  minds  of  your  children  with  this 
dogma.  Let  them  read  for  themselves;  let  them 
think  for  themselves. 

Do  not  treat  your  children  like  orthodox  posts 

9 


130  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

to  be  set  in  a  row.  Treat  them  like  trees  that  need 
light  and  sun  and  air.  Be  fair  and  honest  with 
them;  give  them  a  chance.  Recollect  that  their 
rights  are  equal  to  yours.  Do  not  have  it  in  your 
mind  that  you  must  govern  them ;  that  they  must 
obey.  Throw  away  forever  the  idea  of  master  and 
slave. 

In  old  times  they  used  to  make  the  children  go 
to  bed  when  they  were  not  sleepy,  and  get  up  when 
they  were  sleepy.  I  say  let  them  go  to  bed  when 
they  are  sleepy,  and  get  up  when  they  are  not 
sleepy. 

But  you  say,  this  doctrine  will  do  for  the  rich 
but  not  for  the  poor.  Well,  if  the  poor  have  to 
waken  their  children  early  in  the  morning  it  is  as 
easy  to  wake  them  with  a  kiss  as  with  a  blow. 
Give  your  children  freedom;  let  them  preserve 
their  individuality.  Let  your  children  eat  what 
they  desire,  and  commence  at  the  end  of  a  dinner 
they  like.  That  is  their  business  and  not  yours. 
They  know  what  they  wish  to  eat.  If  they  are 
given  their  liberty  from  the  first,  they  know  what 
they  want  better  than  any  doctor  in  the  world  can 
prescribe.  Do  you  know  that  all  the  improvement 
that  has  ever  been  made  in  the  practice  of  medicine 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND  CHILD-  131 

has  been  made  by  the  recklessness  of  patients  and 
not  by  the  doctors  ?  For  thousands  and  thousands 
of  years  the  doctors  would  not  let  "a  man  suffering 
from  fever  have  a  drop  of  water.  Water  they 
looked  upon  as  poison.  But  every  now  and  then 
some  man  got  reckless  and  said,  "I  had  rather  die 
than  not  to  slake  my  thirst."  Then  he  would  drink 
two  or  three  quarts  of  water  and  get  well.  And 
when  the  doctor  was  told  of  what  the  patient  had 
done,  he  expressed  great  surprise  that  he  was  still 
alive,  and  complimented  his  constitution  upon  being 
able  to  bear  such  a  frightful  strain.  The  reckless 
men,  however,  kept  on  drinking  the  water,  and 
persisted  in  getting  well.  And  finally  the  doctors 
said:  "  In  a  fever,  water  is  the  very  best  thing  you 
can  take."  So,  I  have  more  confidence  in  the 
voice  of  nature  about  such  things  than  I  have  in 
the  conclusions  of  the  medical  schools. 

Let  your  children  have  freedom  and  they  will 
fall  into  your  ways;  they  will  do  substantially  as 
you  do ;  but  if  you  try  to  make  them,  there  is  some 
magnificent,  splendid  thing  in  the  human  heart  that 
refuses  to  be  driven.  And  do  you  know  that  it  is 
the  luckiest  thing  that  ever  happened  for  this 
world,  that  people  are  that  way.  What  would  have 


132  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

become  of  the  people  five  hundred  years  ago  if 
they  had  followed  strictly  the  advice  of  the 
doctors?  They  would  have  all  been  dead.  What 
would  the  people  have  been,  if  at  any  age  of  the 
world  they  had  followed  implicitly  the  direction  of 
the  church?  They  would  have  all  been  idiots.  It 
is  a  splendid  thing  that  there  is  always  some  grand 
man  who  will  not  mind,  and  who  will  think  for 
himself. 

I  believe  in  allowing  the  children  to  think  for 
themselves.  I  believe  in  the  democracy  of  the 
family.  If  in  this  world  there  is  anything  splendid, 
it  is  a  home  where  all  are  equals. 

You  will  remember  that  only  a  few  years  ago 
parents  would  tell  their  children  to  "  let  their 
victuals  stop  their  mouths."  They  used  to  eat  as 
though  it  were  a  religious  ceremony  —  a  very 
solemn  thing.  Life  should  not  be  treated  as  a 
solemn  matter.  I  like  to  see  the  children  at 
table,  and  hear  each  one  telling  of  the  wonderful 
things  he  has  seen  and  heard.  I  like  to  hear  the 
clatter  of  knives  and  forks  and  spoons  mingling 
with  their  happy  voices.  I  had  rather  hear  it  than 
any  opera  that  was  ever  put  upon  the  boards.  Let 
the  children  have  liberty.  Be  honest  and  fair  with 


MAN,    WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  133 

them ;  be  just ;  be  tender,  and  they  will  make  you 
rich  in  love  and  joy. 

Men  are  oaks,  women  are  vines,  children  are 
flowers. 

The  human  race  has  been  guilty  of  almost 
countless  crimes ;  but  I  have  some  excuse  for 
mankind.  This  world,  after  all,  is  not  very  well 
adapted  to  raising  good  people.  In  the  first  place, 
nearly  all  of  it  is  water.  It  is  much  better  adapted 
to  fish  culture  than  to  the  production  of  folks.  Of 
that  portion  which  is  land  not  one-eighth  has 
suitable  soil  and  climate  to  produce  great  men  and 
women.  You  cannot  raise  men  and  women  of 
genius,  without  the  proper  soil  and  climate,  any 
more  than  you  can  raise  corn  and  wheat  upon  the 
ice  fields  of  the  Arctic  sea.  You  must  have  the 
necessary  conditions  and  surroundings.  Man  is 
a  product ;  you  must  have  the  soil  and  food.  The 
obstacles  presented  by  nature  must  not  be  so 
great  that  man  cannot,  by  reasonable  industry  and 
courage,  overcome  them.  There  is  upon  this  world 
only  a  narrow  belt  of  land,  circling  zigzag  the 
globe,  upon  which  you  can  produce  men  and 
women  of  talent.  In  the  Southern  Hemisphere 


THE  LIBERTY  OF 


the  real  climate  that  man  needs  falls  mostly  upon 
the  sea,  and  the  result  is,  that  the  southern  half  of 
our  world  has  never  produced  a  man  or  woman  of 
great  genius.  In  the  far  north  there  is  no  genius 
— it  is  too  cold.  In  the  far  south  there  is  no 
genius — it  is  too  warm.  There  must  be  winter, 
and  there  must  be  summer.  In  a  country  where 
man  needs  no  coverlet  but  a  cloud,  revolution  is 
his  normal  condition.  Winter  is  the  mother  of 
industry  and  prudence.  Above  all,  it  is  the  mother 
of  the  family  relation.  Winter  holds  in  its  icy  arms 
the  husband  and  wife  and  the  .sweet  children.  If 
upon  this  earth  we  ever  have  a  glimpse  of  heaven, 
it  is  when  we  pass  a  home  in  winter,  at  night,  and 
through  the  windows,  the  curtains  drawn  aside,  we 
see  the  family  about  the  pleasant  hearth;  the  old 
lady  knitting;  the  cat  playing  with  the  yarn;  the 
children  wishing  they  had  as  many  dolls  or  dollars 
or  knives  or  somethings,  as  there  are  sparks  going 
out  to  join  the  roaring  blast;  the  father  reading 
and  smoking,  and  the  clouds  rising  like  incense 
from  the  altar  of  domestic  joy.  I  never  passed 
such  a  house  without  feeling  that  I  had  received  a 
benediction. 

Civilization,  liberty,  justice,  charity,  intellectual 


MAN,  WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  135 

advancement,   are  all  flowers  that  blossom  in   the 
drifted  snow. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  can  better  illustrate  the 
great  truth  that  only  part  of  the  world  is  adapted 
to  the  production  of  great  men  and  women  than  by 
calling  your  attention  to  the  difference  between 
vegetation  in  valleys  and  upon  mountains.  In  the 
valley  you  find  the  oak  and  elm  tossing  their 
branches  defiantly  to  the  storm,  and  as  you  advance 
up  the  mountain  side  the  hemlock,  the  pine,  the 
birch,  the  spruce,  the  fir,  and  finally  you  come  to 
little  dwarfed  trees,  that  look  like  other  trees  seen 
through  a  telescope  reversed  —  every  limb  twisted 
as  though  in  pain^ — getting  a  scanty  subsistence 
from  the  miserly  crevices  of  the  rocks.  You 
go  on  and  on,  until  at  last  the  highest  crag  is 
freckled  with  a  kind  of  moss,  and-  vegetation  ends. 
You  might  as  well  try  to  raise  oaks  and  elms  where 
the  mosses  grow,  as  to  raise  great  men  and  great' 
women  where  their  surroundings  are  unfavorable. 
You  must  have  the  proper  climate  and  soil. 

A  few  years  ago  we  were  talking  about  the 
annexation  of  Santo  Domingo  to  this  country.  I 
was  in  Washington  at  the  time.  I  was  opposed  to 
it.  I  was  told  that  it  was  a  most  delicious  climate ; 


136  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

that  the  soil  produced  everything.  But  I  said: 
"We  do  not  want  it;  it  is  not  the  right  kind  of 
country  in  which  to  raise  American  citizens.  Such 
a  climate  would  debauch  us.  You  might  go  there 
with  five  thousand  Congregational  preachers,  five 
thousand  ruling  elders,  Jive  thousand  professors  in 
colleges,  five  thousand  of  the  solid  men  of  Boston 
and  their  wives ;  settle  them  all  in  Santo  Domingo, 
and  you  will  see  the  second  generation  riding  upon 
a  mule,  bareback,  no  shoes,  a  grapevine  bridle,  hair 
sticking  out  at  the  top  of  their  sombreros,  with  a 
rooster  under  each  arm,  going  to  a  cock  fight  on 
Sunday."  Such  is  the  influence  of  climate. 

Science,  however,  is  gradually  widening  the 
area  within  which  men  of  genius  can  be  produced. 
We  are  conquering  the  north  with  houses,  clothing, 
food  and  fuel.  We  are  in  many  ways  overcoming 
the  heat  of  the  south.  If  we  attend  to  this  world 
instead  of  another,  we  may  in  time  cover  the  land 
with  men  and  women  of  genius. 

I  have  still  another  excuse.  I  believe  that  man 
came  up  from  the  lower  animals.  I  do  not  say  this 
as  a  fact.  I  simply  say  I  believe  it  to  be  a  fact. 
Upon  that. question  I  stand  about  eight  to  seven, 
which,  for  all  practical  purposes,  is  very  near  a 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  137 

certainty.  When  I  first  heard  of  that  doctrine  I 
did  not  like  it.  My  heart  was  filled  with  sympathy 
for  those  people  who  have  nothing  to  be  proud 
of  except  ancestors.  I  thought,  how  terrible 
this  will  be  upon  the  nobility  of  the  old  world. 
Think  of  their  being  forced  to  trace  their  ancestry 
back  to  the  duke  Orang  Outang,  or  to  the  princess 
Chimpanzee.  After  thinking  it  all  over,  I  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  I  liked  that  doctrine.  I  became 
convinced  in  spite  of  myself.  I  read  about 
rudimentary  bones  and  muscles.  I  was  told  that 
everybody  had  rudimentary  muscles  extending 
from  the  ear  into  the  cheek.  I  asked:  ''What  are 
they?"  I  was  told:  "They  are  the  remains  of 
muscles;  that  they  became  rudimentary  from  lack 
of  use ;  they  went  into  bankruptcy.  They  are  the 
muscles  with  which  your  ancestors  used  to  flap 
their  ears."  I  do  not  now  so  much  wonder  that 
we  once  had  them  as  that  we  have  outgrown  them. 
After  all  I  had  rather  belong  to  a  race  that 
started  from  the  skulless  vertebrates  in  the  dim 
Laurentian  seas,  vertebrates  wiggling  without 
knowing  why  they  wiggled,  swimming  without 
knowing  where  they  were  going,  but  that  in  some 
way  began  to  develop,  and  began  to  get  a  little 


133  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

higher  and  a  little  higher  in  the  scale  of  existence ; 
that  came  up  by  degrees  through  millions  of  ages 
through  all  the  animal  world,  through  all  that  crawls 
and  swims  and  floats  and  climbs  and  walks,  and 
finally  produced  the  gentleman  in  the  dug-out ;  and 
then  from  this  man,  getting  a  little  grander,  and 
each  one  below  calling  every  one  above  him  a 
heretic,  calling  every  one  who  had  made  a  little 
advance  an  infidel  or  an  atheist — for  in  the  history 
of  this  world  the  man  who  is  ahead  has  always 
been  called  a  heretic  —  I  would  rather  come  from  a 
race  that  started  from  that  skulless  vertebrate,  and 
came  up  and  up  and  up-  and  finally  produced 
Shakespeare,  the  man  who  found  the  human  intel-* 
lect  dwelling  in  a  hut,  touched  it  with  the  wand  of 
his  genius  and  it  became  a  palace  domed  and 
pinnacled ;  Shakespeare,  who  harvested  all  the 
fields  of  dramatic  thought,  and  from  whose  day  to 
this,  there  have  been  only  gleaners  of  straw  and 
chaff — - 1  would  rather  belong  to  that  race  that 
commenced  a  skulless  vertebrate  and  produced 
Shakespeare,  a  race  that  has  before  it  an  infinite 
future,  with  the  angel  of  progress  leaning  from  the 
far  horizon,  beckoning  men  forward,  upward  and 
onward  forever — I  had  rather  belong  to  such  a 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  139 

race,  commencing  there,  producing  this,  and  with 
that  hope,  than  to  have  sprung  from  a  perfect  pair 
upon  which  the  Lord  has  lost  money  every  moment 
from  that  day  to  this. 

CONCLUSION. 

I  have  given  you  my  honest  thought.  Surely 
investigation  is  better  than  unthinking  faith. 
Surely  reason  is  a  better  guide  than  fear.  This 
world  should  be  controlled  by  the  living,  not  by 
the  dead.  The  grave  is  not  a  throne,  and  a 
corpse  is  not  a  king.  Man  should  not  try  to  live 
on  ashes. 

The  theologians  dead,  knew  no  more  than  the 
theologians  now  living.  More  than  this  cannot  be 
said.  About  this  world  little  is  known, —  about 
another  world,  nothing. 

Our  fathers  were  intellectual  serfs,  and  their 
fathers  were  slaves.  The  makers  of  our  creeds 
were  ignorant  and  brutal.  Every  dogma  that  we 
have,  has  upon  it  the  mark  of  whip,  the  rust  of 
chain,  and  the  ashes  of  fagot. 

Our  fathers  reasoned  with  instruments  of  tor 
ture.  They  believed  in  the  logic  of  fire  and  sword. 
They  hated  reason.  They  despised  thought. 
They  abhorred  liberty. 


140  THE  LIBERTY  OF 

Superstition  is  the  child  of  slavery.  Free 
thought  will  give  us  truth.  When  all  have  the 
right  to  think  and  to  express  their  thoughts, 
every  brain  will  give  to  all  the  best  it  has.  The 
world  will  then  be  filled  with  intellectual  wealth. 

As  long  as  men  and  women  are  afraid  of  the 
church,  as  long  as  a  minister  inspires  fear,  as  long 
as  people  reverence  a  thing  simply  because  they 
do  not.  understand  it,  as  long  as  it  is  respectable 
to  lose  your  self-respect,  as  long  as  the  church 
has  power,  as  long  as  mankind  worship  a  book, 
just  so  long  will  the  world  be  filled  with  intel 
lectual  paupers  and  vagrants,  covered  with  the 
soiled  and  faded  rags  of  superstition. 

As  long  as  woman  regards  the  bible  as  the 
charter  of  her  rights,  she  will  be  the  slave  of  man. 
The  bible  was  not  written  by  a  woman.  Within  its 
lids  there  is  nothing  but  humiliation  and  shame 
for  her.  She  is  regarded  as  the  property  of  man. 
She  is  made  to  ask  forgiveness  for  becoming  a 
mother.  She  is  as  much  below  her  husband,  as 
her  husband  is  below  Christ.  She  is  not  allowed 
to  speak.  The  gospel  is  too  pure  to  be  spoken  by 
her  polluted  lips.  Woman  should  learn  in  silence. 

In  the  bible  will  be  found  no  description  of  a 


MAN,   WOMAN  AND   CHILD.  141 

civilized  home.  The  free  mother,  surrounded  by 
free  and  loving  children,  adored  by  a  free  man,  her 
husband,  was  unknown  to  the  inspired  writers  of 
the  bible.  They  did  not  believe  in  the  democracy 
of  home  —  in  the  republicanism  of  the  fireside. 

These  inspired  gentlemen  knew  nothing  of  the 
rights  of  children.  They  were  the  advocates  of 
brute  force — the  disciples  of  the  lash.  They  knew 
nothing  of  human  rights.  Their  doctrines  have 
brutalized  the  homes  of  millions,  and  filled  the 
eyes  of  infancy  with  tears. 

Let  us  free  ourselves  from  the  tyranny  of  a 
book,  from  the  slavery  of  dead  ignorance,  from  the 
aristocracy  of  the  air. 

.  There  has  never  been  upon  the  earth  a  gener 
ation  of  free  men  and  women.  It  is  not  yet  time 
to  write  a  creed.  Wait  until  the  chains  are  broken 
—  until  dungeons  are  not  regarded  as  temples. 
Wait  until  solemnity  is  not  mistaken  for  wisdom — 
until  mental  cowardice  ceases  to  be  known  as  rev 
erence.  Wait  until  the  living  are  considered  the 
equals  of  the  dead  —  until  the  cradle  takes  prece 
dence  of  the  coffin.  Wait  until  what  we  know  can 
be  spoken  without  regard  to  what  others  may 
believe.  Wait  until  teachers  take  the  place  of 


142  THE  LIBERTY  OF  MAN,  ETC. 

preachers  —  until  followers  become  investigators. 
Wait  until  the  world  is  free  before  you  write  a 
creed. 

In  this  creed  there  will  be  but  one  word  — 
Liberty. 

Oh  Liberty,  float  not  forever  in  the  far  horizon 
—  remain  not  forever  in  the  dream  of  the  enthu 
siast,  the  philanthropist  and  poet,  but  come  and 
make  thy  home  among  the  children  of  men! 

I  know  not  what  discoveries,  what  inventions, 
what  thoughts  may  leap  from  the  brain  of  the 
world.  I  know  not  what  garments  of  glory  may 
be  woven  by  the  years  to  come.  I  cannot  dream 
of  the  victories .  to  be  won  upon  the  fields  of 
thought ;  but  I  do  know,  that  coming  from  the 
infinite  sea  of  the  future,  there  will  never  touch 
this  "bank  and  shoal  of  time"  a  .richer  gift,  a 
rarer  blessing  than  liberty  for  man,  for  woman,  and 
for  child. 


1776. 

THE    DECLARATION    OF 
INDEPENDENCE. 


THE    DECLARATION    OF 
INDEPENDENCE. 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO  OUR  FATHERS  RETIRED  THE  GODS 
FROM  POLITICS. 

THE  Declaration  of  Independence  is  the  grand 
est,  the  bravest,  and  the  profoundest  political 
document  that  was  ever  signed  by  the  representa 
tives  of  a  people.     It.  is  the  embodiment  of  physical 
and  moral  courage  and  of  political  wisdom. 

I  say  of  physical  courage,  because  it  was  a 
declaration  of  war  against  the  most  powerful  nation 
then  on  the  globe ;  a  declaration  of  war  by  thirteen 
weak,  unorganized  colonies;  a  declaration  of  war 
by  a  few  people,  without  military  stores,  without 
wealth,  without  strength,  against  the  most  powerful 
kingdom  on  the  earth ;  a  declaration  of  war  made 
when  the  British  navy,  at  that  day  the  mistress  of 


146        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

every  sea,  was-  hovering  along  the  coast  of 
America,  looking  after  defenseless  towns  and 
villages  to  ravage  and  destroy.  It  was  made  when 
thousands  of  English  soldiers  were  upon  our  soil, 
and  when  the  principal  cities  of  America  were  in 
the  susbtantial  possession  of  the  enemy.  And  so, 
I  say,  all  things  considered,  it  was  the  bravest 
political  document  ever  signed  by  man.  And  if 
it  was  physically  brave',  the  moral  courage  of  the 
document  is  almost  infinitely  beyond  the  physical. 
They  had  the  courage  not  only,  but  they  had  the 
almost  infinite  wisdom,  to  declare  that  all  men  are 
created  equal. 

Such  things  had  occasionally  been  said  by  some 
political  enthusiast  in  the  olden  time,  but  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  the  represen 
tatives  of  a  nation,  the  representatives  of  a  real, 
living,  breathing,  hoping  people,  declared  that  all 
men  are  created  equal.  With  one  blow,  with  one 
stroke  of  the  pen,  they  struck  down  all  the  cruel, 
heartless  barriers  that  aristocracy,  that  priestcraft, 
that  kingcraft  had  raised  between  man  and  man. 
They  struck  down  with  one  immortal  blow,  that 
infamous  spirit  of  caste  that  makes  a  god  almost 
a  beast,  and  a  beast  almost  a  god.  With  one 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        147 

word,  with  one  blow,  they  wiped  away  and  utterly 
destroyed  all  that  had  been  done  by  centuries  of 
war — centuries  of  hypocrisy — centuries  of  injustice. 

What  more  did  they  do?  They  then  declared 
that  each  man  has  a  right  to  live.  And  what  does 
that  mean?  It  means  that  he  has  the  right  to 
make  his  living.  It  means  that  he  has  the  right 
to  breathe  the  air,  to  work  the  land,  that  he  stands 
the  equal  of  every  other  human  being  beneath  the 
shining  stars ;  entitled  to  the  product  of  his  labor 
—  the  labor  of  his  hand  and  of  his  brain. 

What  more?  That  every  man  has  the  right 
to  pursue  his  own  happiness  in  his  own  way. 
Grander  words  than  these  have  never  been  spoken 
by  man. 

And  what  more  did  these  men  say  ?  They  laid 
down  the  doctrine  that  governments  were  insti 
tuted  among  men  for  the  purpose  of  preserving 
the  rights  of  the  people.  The  old  idea  was  that 
people  existed  solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  state  — 
that  is  to  say,  for  kings  and  nobles. 

The  old  idea  was  that  the  people  were  the 
wards  of  king  and  priest — that  their  bodies  be 
longed  to  one  and  their  souls  to  the  other. 

And  what   more?      That   the   people   are   the 


148        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

source  of  political  power.  That  was  not  only  a 
revelation,  but  it  was  a  revolution.  It  changed 
the  ideas  of  people  with  regard  to  the  source  of 
political  power.  For  the  first  time  it  made  human 
beings  men.  What  was  the  old  idea?  The  old 
idea  was  that  no  political  power  came  from,  nor  in 
any  manner  belonged  to,  the  people.  The  old 
idea  was  that  the  political  power  came  from  the 
clouds ;  that  the  political  power  came  in  some 
miraculous  way  from  heaven ;  that  it  came  down  to 
kings,  and  queens,  and  robbers.  That  was  the  old 
idea.  The  nobles  lived  upon  the  labor  of  the 
people ;  the  people  had  no  rights ;  the  nobles  stole 
what  they  had  and  divided  with  the  kings,  and  the 
kings  pretended  to  divide  what  they  stole  with  God 
Almighty.  The  source,  then,  of  political  power 
was  from  above.  The  people  were  responsible  to 
the  nobles,  the  nobles  to  the  king,  and  the  people 
had  no  political  rights  whatever,  no  more  than  the 
wild  beasts  of  the  forest.  The  kings  were  respon 
sible  to  God ;  not  to  the  people.  The  kings  were 
responsible  to  the  clouds ;  not  to  the  toiling  millions 
they  robbed  and  plundered. 

And    our    forefathers,    in    this    declaration    of 
independence,   reversed  this  thing,  and  said:  No; 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        149 

the  people,  they  are  the  source  of  political  power, 
and  their  rulers,  these  presidents,  these  kings,  are 
but  the  agents  and  servants  of  the  great,  sublime 
people.  For  the  first  time,  really,  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  the  king  was  made  to  get  off  the 
throne  and  the  people  were  royally  seated  thereon. 
The  people  became  the  sovereigns,  and  the  old 
sovereigns  became  the  servants  and  the  agents  of 
the  people.  It  is  hard  for  you  and  me  now  to 
imagine  even  the  immense  results  of  that  change. 
It  is  hard  for  you  and  for  me,  at  this  day,  to 
understand  how  thoroughly  it  had  been  ingrained 
in  the  brain  of  almost  every  man,  that  the  king 
had  some  wonderful  right  over  him ;  that  in  some 
strange  way  the  king  owned  him ;  that  in  some 
miraculous  manner  he  belonged,  body  and  soul,  to 
somebody  who  rode  on  a  horse  —  to  somebody  with 
epaulettes  on  his  shoulders  and  a  tinsel  crown  upon 
his  brainless  head. 

Our  forefathers  had  been  educated  in  that  idea, 
and  when  they  first  landed  on  American  shores 
they  believed  it.  They  thought  they  belonged  to 
somebody,  and  that  they  must  be  loyal  to  some 
thief,  who  could  trace  his  pedigree  back  to  an 
tiquity's  most  successful  robber. 


150        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

It  took  a  long  time  for  them  to  get  that  idea 
out  of  their  heads  and  hearts.  They  were  three 
thousand  miles  away  from  the  despotisms  of  the  old 
world,  and  every  wave  of  the  sea  was  an  assistant 
to  them.  The  distance  helped  to  disenchant  their 
minds  of  that  infamous  belief,  and  every  mile 
between  them  and  the  pomp  and  glory  of  monarchy 
helped  to  put  republican  ideas  and  thoughts  into 
their  minds.  Besides  that,  when  they  came  to 
this  country,  when  the  savage  was  in  the  forest 
and  three  thousand  miles  of  waves  on  the  other 
side,  menaced  by  barbarians  on  the  one  side  and 
famine  on  the  other,  they  learned  that  a  man  who 
had  courage,  a  man  who  had  thought,  was  as  good 
as  any  other  man  in  the  world,  and  they  built  up, 
as  it  were,  in  spite  of  themselves,  little  republics. 
And  the  man  that  had  the  most  nerve  and  heart 
was  the  best  man,  whether  he  had  any  noble  blood 
in  his  veins  or  not. 

It  has  been  a  favorite  idea  with  me  that  our 
forefathers  were  educated  by  Nature;  that  they 
grew  grand  as  the  continent  upon  which  they 
landed;  that  the  great  rivers  —  the  wide  plains— 
the  splendid  lakes  —  the  lonely  forests  —  the  sub 
lime  mountains  —  that  all  these  things  stole  into 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         151 

and  became  a  part  of  their  being-,  and  they  grew 
great  as  the  country  in  which  they  lived.  They 
began  to  hate  the  narrow,  contracted  views  of 
Europe.  They  were  educated  by  their  surround 
ings,  and  every  little  colony  had  to  be,  to  a  certain 
extent,  a  republic.  The  kings  of  the  old  world 
endeavored  to  parcel  out  this  land  to  their  favorites. 
But  there  were  too  many  Indians.  There  was  too 
much  courage  required  for  them  to  take  and  keep 
it,  and  so  men  had  to  come  here  who  were  dissat 
isfied  with  the  old  country  —  who  were  dissatisfied 
with  England,  dissatisfied  with  France,  with  Ger 
many,  with  Ireland  and  Holland.  The  kings' 
favorites  stayed  at  home.  Men  came  here  for 
liberty,  and  on  account  of  certain  principles  they 
entertained  and  held  dearer  than  life.  And  they 
were  willing  to  work,  willing  to  fell  the  forests, 
to  fight  the  savages,  willing  to  go  through  all  the 
hardships,  perils  and  dangers  of  a  new  country,  of 
a  new  land ;  and  the  consequence  was  that  our 
country  was  settled  by  brave  and  adventurous 
spirits,  by  men  who  had  opinions  of  their  own  and 
were  willing  to  live  in  the  wild  forests  for  the  sake 
of  expressing  those  opinions,  even  if  they  expressed 
them  only  to  trees,  rocks,  and  savage  men.  The 
best  blood  of  the  old  world  came  to  the  new. 


152        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

When  they  first  came  over  they  did  not  have  a 
great  deal  of  political  philosophy,  nor  the  best 
ideas  of  liberty.  We  might  as  well  tell  the  truth. 
When  the  Puritains  first  came,  they  were  narrow. 
They  did  npt  understand  what  liberty  meant — what 
religious  liberty,  what  political  liberty,  was ;  but 
they  found  out  in  a  few  years.  There  was  one 
feeling  among  them  that  rises  to  their  eternal  honor 
like  a  white  shaft  to  the  clouds  —  they  were  in 
favor  of  universal  education.  Wherever  they  went 
they  built  school  houses,  introduced  books,  and 
ideas  of  literature.  They  believed  that  every  man 
should  know  how  to  read  and  how  to  write,  and 
should  find  out  all  that  his  capacity  allowed  him  to 
comprehend.  That  is  the  glory  of  the  Puritan 
fathers. 

They  forgot  in  a  little  while  what  they  had 
suffered,  and  they  forgot  to  apply  the  principle  of 
universal  liberty  —  of  toleration.  Some  of  the 
colonies  did  not  forget  it,  and  I  want  to  give  credit 
where  credit  should  be  given.  The  Catholics  of 
Maryland  were  the  first  people  on  the  new  conti 
nent  to  declare  universal  religious  toleration.  Let 
this  be  remembered  to  their  eternal  honor.  Let  it 
be  remembered  to  the  disgrace  of  the  Protestant 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         153 

government  of  England,  that  it  caused  this  grand 
law  to  be  repealed.  And  to  the  honor  and  credit 
of  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  let  it  be  remembered, 
that  the  moment  they  got  back  into  power  tney 
re-enacted  the  old  law.  The  Baptists  of  Rhode 
Island  also,  led  by  Roger  Williams,  ware  in  favor 
of  universal  religious  liberty. 

No  American  should  fail  to  honor  Roger 
Williams.  He  was  the  first  grand  advocate  of  the 
liberty  of  the  soul.  He  was  in  favor  of  the  eternal 
divorce  of  church  and  state.  So  far  as  I  know,  he 
was  the  only  man  at  that  time  in  this  country  who 
was  in  favor  of  real  religious  liberty.  While  the 
Catholics  of  Maryland  declared  in  favor  of  religious 
toleration,  they  had  no  idea  of  religious  liberty. 
They  would  not  allow  any  one  to  call  in  question 
the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  or  the  inspiration  of  the 
scriptures.  They  stood  ready  with  branding  iron 
and  gallows  to  burn  and  choke  out  of  man  the  idea 
that  he  had  a  right  to  think  and  to  express  his. 
thoughts. 

So  many  religions  met  in  our  country — so 
many  theories  and  dogmas  came  in  contact  — 
so  many  follies,  mistakes  and  stupidities  became 
acquainted  with  each  other,  that  religion  began  to 


154        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

fall  somewhat  into  disrepute.  Besides  this,  the 
question  of  a  new  nation  began  to  take  precedence 
of  all  others. 

The  people  were  too  much  interested  in  this 
world  to  quarrel  about  the  next.  The  preacher 
was  lost  in  the  patriot.  The  bible  was  read  to  find 
passages  against  kings. 

Everybody  was  discussing  the  rights  of  man. 
Farmers  and  mechanics  suddenly  became  states 
men,  and  in  every  shop  and  cabin  nearly  every 
question  was  asked  and  answered. 

During  these  years  of  political  excitement,  the 
interest  in  religion  abated  to  that  degree  that  a 
common  purpose  animated  men  of  all  sects  and 
creeds. 

At  last  our  fathers  became  tired  of  being 
colonists  —  tired  of  writing  and  reading  and  sign 
ing  petitions,  and  presenting  them  on  their  bended 
knees,  to  an  idiot  king.  They  began  to  have  an 
aspiration  to  form  a  new  nation,  to  be  citizens  of  a 
new  republic  instead  of  subjects  of  an  old  mon 
archy.  They  had  the  idea  —  the  Puritans,  the 
Catholics,  the  Episcopalians,  the  Baptists,  the 
Quakers,  and  a  few  Free  Thinkers,  all  had  the  idea 
—  that  they  would  like  to  form  a  new  nation. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         155 

Now,  do  not  understand  that  all  of  our  fathers 
were  in  favor  of  independence.  Do  not  understand 
that  they  were  all  like  Jefferson ;  that  they  were  all 
like  Adams  or  Lee ;  that  they  were  all  like 
Thomas  Paine  or  John  Hancock.  There  were 
thousands  and  thousands  of  them  who  were  op 
posed  to  American  independence.  There  were 
thousands  and  thousands  who  said:  "When  you 
say  men  are  created  equal,  it  is  a  lie ;  when  you 
say  the  political  power  resides  in  the  great  body  of 
the  people,  it  is  false."  Thousands  and  thousands 
of  them  said:  "We  prefer  Great  Britain."  But 
the  men  who  were  in  favor  of  independence,  the 
men  who  knew  that  a  new  nation  must  be  born, 
went  on  full  of  hope  and  courage,  and  nothing 
could  daunt  or  stop  or  stay  the  heroic,  fearless  few. 

They  met  in  Philadelphia;  and  the  resolution 
was  moved  by  Lee  of  Virginia,  that  the  colonies 
ought  to  be  independent  states,  and  ought  to  dis 
solve  their  political  connection  with  Great  Britain. 

They  made  up  their  minds  that  a  new  nation 
must  be  formed.  All  nations  had  been,  so  to 
speak,  the  wards  of  some  church.  The  religious 
idea  as  to  the  source  of  power  had  been  at  the 
foundation  of  all  governments,  and  had  been  the 
bane  and  curse  of  man. 


156        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

Happily  for  us,  there  was  no  church  strong 
enough  to  dictate  to  the  rest.  Fortunately  for  us, 
the  colonists  not  only,  but  the  colonies  differed 
widely  in  their  religious  views.  There  were  the 
Puritans  who  hated  the  Episcopalians,  and  Episco 
palians  who  hated  the  Catholics,  and  the  Catholics 
who  hated  both,  while  the  Quakers  held  them  all 
in  contempt.  There  they  were,  of  every  sort,  and 
color,  and  kind,  and  how  was  it  that  they  came 
together?  They  had  a  common  aspiration.  They 
wanted  to  form  a  new  nation.  More  than  that, 
most  of  them  cordially  hated  Great  Britain ;  and 
they  pledged  each  other  to  forget  these  religious 
prejudices,  for  a  time  at  least,  and  agreed  that 
there  should  be  only  one  religion  until  they  got 
through,  and  that  was  the  religion  of  patriotism. 
They  solemnly  agreed  that  the  new  nation  should 
not  belong  to  any  particular  church,  but  that  it 
should  secure  the  rights  of  all. 

Our  fathers  founded  the  first  secular  govern 
ment  that  was  ever  founded  in  this  world.  Rec- 
collect  that.  The  first  secular  goverment;  the 
first  government  that  said  every  church  has  exactly 
the  same  rights,  and  no  more ;  every  religion  has 
the  same  rights,  and  no  more.  In  other  words,  our 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         157 

fathers  were  the  first  men  who  had  the  sense,  had 
the  genius,  to  know  that  no  church  should  be 
allowed  to  have  a  sword ;  that  it  should  be  allowed 
only  to  exert  its  moral  influence. 

You  might  as  well  have  a  government  united 
by  force  with  Art,  -or  with  Poetry,  or  with  Oratory, 
as  with  Religion.  Religion  should  have  the  influ 
ence  upon  mankind  that  its  goodness,  that  its 
morality,  its  justice,  its  charity,  its  reason,  and  its 
argument  give  it,  and  no  more.  Religion  should 
have  the  effect  upon  mankind  that  it  necessarily 
has,  and  no  more.  The  religion  that  has  to  be 
supported  by  law  is  without  value,  not  only,  but  a 
fraud  and  curse.  The  religious  argument  that  has 
to  be  supported  by  a  musket,  is  hardly  worth 
making.  A  prayer  that  must  have  a  cannon 
behind  it,  better  never  be  uttered.  Forgiveness 
ought  not  to  go  in  partnership  with  shot  and  shell. 
Love  need  not  carry  knives  and  revolvers. 

So,  our  fathers  said:  "We  will  form  a  secular 
government,  and  under  the  flag  with  which  we  are 
going  to  enrich  the  air,  we  will  allow  every  man  to 
worship  God  as  he  thinks  best."  They  said: 
"Religion  is  an  individual  thing  between  each  man 
and  his  Creator,  and  he  can  worship  as  he  pleases 


158        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

and  as  he  desires."  And  why  did  they  do  this? 
The  history  of  the  world  warned  them  that  the 
liberty  of  man  was  not  safe  in  the  clutch  and  grasp 
of  any  church.  They  had  read  of  and  seen  the 
thumb-screws,  the  racks  and  the  dungeons  of  the 
inquisition.  They  knew  all  about  the  hypocrisy  of 
the  olden  time.  They  knew  that  the  church  had 
stood  side  by  side  with  the  throne ;  that  the  high 
priests  were  hypocrites,  and  that  the  kings  were 
robbers.  They  also  knew  that  if  they  gave  to  any 
church  power,  it  would  corrupt  the  best  church  in 
the  world.  And  so  they  said  that  power  must  not 
reside  in  a  church  nor  in  a  sect,  but  power  must  be 
wherever  humanity  is,  —  in  the  great  body  of  the 
people.  And  the  officers  and  servants  of  the  peo 
ple  must  be  responsible  to  them.  And  so  I  say 
again,  as  I  said  in  the  commencement,  this  is  the 
wisest,  the  profoundest,  the  bravest  political  docu 
ment  that  ever  was  written  and  signed  by  man. 

They  turned,  as  I  tell  you,  everything  squarely 
about.  They  derived  all  their  authority  from  the 
people.  They  did  away  forever  with  the  theologi 
cal  idea  of  government. 

And  what  more  did  they  say  ?  They  said  that 
whenever  the  rulers  abused  this  authority,  this 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         159 

power,  incapable  of  destruction,  returned  to  the 
people.  How  did  they  come  to  say  this?  I 
will  tell  you.  They  were  pushed  into  it.  How? 
They  felt  that  they  were  oppressed;  and  whenever 
a  man  feels  that  he  is  the  subject  of  injustice,  his 
perception  of  right  and  wrong  is  wonderfully 
quickened. 

Nobody  was  ever  in  prison  wrongfully  who  did 
not  believe  in  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  Nobody 
ever  suffered  wrongfully  v/ithout  instantly  having 
ideas  of  justice. 

And  they  began  to  inquire  what  rights  the  king 
of  Great  Britain  had.  They  began  to  search  for 
the  charter  of  his  authority.  They  began  to  inves 
tigate  and  dig  down  to  the  bed-rock  upon  which 
society  must  be  founded,  and  when  they  got  down 
there,  forced  there,  too,  by  their  oppressors,  forced 
against  their  own  prejudices  and  education,  they 
found  at  the  bottom  of  things,  not  lords,  not  nobles, 
not  pulpits,  not  thrones,  but  humanity  and  the 
rights  .of  men. 

And  so  they  said,  we  are  men;  we  are  men. 
They  found  out  they  were  men.  And  the  next 
thing  they  said,  was,  "We  will  be  free  men ;  we  are 
weary  of  being  colonists ;  we  are  tired  of  being 


160        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

subjects  ;  we  are  men ;  and  these  colonies  ought  to 
be  states ;  and  these  states  ought  to  be  a  nation ; 
and  that  nation  ought  to  drive  the  last  British 
soldier  into  the  sea."  And  so  they  signed  that 
brave  declaration  of  independence. 

I  thank  every  one  of  them  from  the  bottom  of 
my  heart  for  signing  that  sublime  declaration.  I 
thank  them  for  their  courage  —  for  their  patriotism 
—  for  their  wisdom  —  for  the  splendid  confidence 

in    themselves    and  in    the  human    race.     I   thank 
u 
them  for.  what  they  were,  and  for  what  we  are  — 

for  what  they  did  and  for  what  we  have  received  — 
for  what  they  suffered,  and  for  what  we  enjoy. 

What  would  we  have  been  if  we  had  remained 
colonists  and  subjects  ?  What  would  we  have 
been  to-day?  Nobodies, —  ready  to  get  down  on 
our  knees  and  crawl  in  the  very  dust  at  the  sight 
of  somebody  that  was  supposed  to  have  in  him 
some  drop  of  blood  that  flowed  in  the  veins  of  that 
mailed  marauder — that  royal  robber,  William  the 
Conqueror. 

They  signed  that  declaration  of  independence, 
although  they  knew  that  it  would  produce  a  long, 
terrible,  and  bloody  war.  They  looked  forward 
and  saw  poverty,  deprivation,  gloom  and  death. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         161 

But  they  also  saw,  on  the  wrecked  clouds  of  war, 
the  beautiful  bow  of  freedom. 

These  grand  men  were  enthusiasts;  and  the 
world  has  only  been  raised  by  enthusiasts.  In 
every  country  there  have  been  a  few  who  have 
given  a  national  aspiration  to  the  people.  The 
enthusiasts  of  1776  were  the  builders  and  framers 
of  this  great  and  splendid  government ;  and  they 
were  the  men  who  saw,  although  others  did  not, 
the  golden  fringe  of  the  mantle  of  glory  that  will 
finally  cover  this  world.  They  knew,  they  felt, 
they  believed  that  they  would  give  a  new  constel 
lation  to  the  political  heavens  —  that  they  would 
make  the  Americans  a  grand  people  —  grand  as 
the  continent  upon  which  they  lived. 

The  war  commenced.  There  was  little  money, 
and  less  credit.  The  new  nation  had  but  few 
friends.  To  a  great  extent,  each  soldier  of  free 
dom  had  to  clothe  and  feed  himself.  He  was  poor 
and  pure  —  brave  and  good,  and  so  he  went  to  the 
fields  of  death  to  fight  for  the  rights  of  man. 

What  did  the  soldier  leave  when  he  went? 

He  left  his  wife  and  children. 

Did  he  leave  them  in  a  beautiful    home,  sur- 


162        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

rounded  by  civilization,  in  the  repose  of  law,  in  the 
security  of  a  great  and  powerful  republic? 

No.  He  left  his  wife  and  children  on  the  edge, 
on  the  fringe  of  the  boundless  forest,  in  which 
crouched  and  crept  the  red  savage,  who  was  at 
that  time  the  ally  of  the  still  more  savage  Briton. 
He  left  his  wife  to  defend  herself,  and  he  left  the 
prattling  babes  to  be  defended  by  their  mother 
and  by  nature.  The  mother  made  the  living ;  she 
planted  the  corn  and  the  potatoes,  and  hoed  them 
in  the  sun,  raised  the  children,  and  in  the  darkness 
of  night,  told  them  about  their  brave  father,  and 
the  "sacred  cause."  She  told  them  that  in  a  little 
while  the  war  would  be  over  and  father  would  come 
back  covered  with  honor  and  glory. 

Think  of  the  woman,  of  the  sweet  children  who 
listened  for  the  footsteps  of  the  dead  —  who  waited 
through  the  sad  and  desolate  years  for  the  dear 
ones  who  never  came. 

The  soldiers  of  1776  did  not  march  away  with 
music  and  banners.  They  went  in  silence,  looked 
at  and  gazed  after  by  eyes  filled  with  tears.  They 
went  to  meet,  not  an  equal,  but  a  superior — to 
fight  five  times  their  number — to  make  a  desperate 
stand  —  to  stop  the  advance  of  the  enemy,  and 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        163 

then,  when  their  ammunition  gave  out,  seek  the 
protection  of  rocks,  of  rivers  and  of  hills. 

Let  me  say  here :  The  greatest  test  of  courage 
on  the  earth  is  to  bear  defeat  without  losing  heart. 
That  army  is  the  bravest  that  can  be  whipped  the 
greatest  number  of  times  and  fight  again. 

Over  the  entire  territory,  so  to  speak,  then 
settled  by  our  forefathers,  they  were  driven  again 
and  again.  Now  and  then  they  would  meet  the 
English  with  something  like  equal  numbers,  and 
then  the  eagle  of  victory  would  proudly  perch 
upon  the  stripes  and  stars.  And  so  they  went 
on  as  best  they  could,  hoping  and  fighting  until 
they  came  to  the  dark  and  sombre  gloom  of  Valley 
Forge. 

There  were  very  few  hearts  then  beneath  that 
flag  that  did  not  begin  to  think  that  the  struggle 
was  useless ;  that  all  the  blood  and  treasure  had 
been  spent  and  shed  in  vain.  But  there  were  some 
men  gifted  with  that  wonderful  prophecy  that 
fulfils  itself,  and  with  that  wonderful  magnetic 
power  that  makes  heroes  of  everybody  they  come 
in  contact  with. 

And  so  our  fathers  went  through  the  gloom  of 
that  terrible  time,  and  still  fought  on.  Brave  men 


164        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

wrote  grand  words,  cheering  the  despondent,  brave 
men  did  brave  deeds,  the  rich  man  gave  his  wealth, 
the  poor  man  gave  his  life,  until  at  last,  by  the 
victory  of  Yorktown,  the  old  banner  won  its  place 
in  the  air,  and  became  glorious  forever. 

Seven  long  years  of  war  —  fighting  for  what? 
For  the  principle  that  all  men  are  created  equal  — 
a  truth  that  nobody  ever  disputed  except  a  scoun 
drel  ;  nobody,  nobody  in  the  entire  history  of  this 
world.  No  man  ever  denied  that  truth  who  was 
not  a  rascal,  and  at  heart  a  thief;  never,  never,  and 
never  will.  What  else  were  they  fighting  for? 
Simply  that  in  America  every  man  should  have  a 
right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
Nobody  ever  denied  that  except  a  villain ;  never, 
never.  It  has  been  denied  by  kings  —  they  were 
thieves.  It  has  been  denied  by  statesmen  —  they 
were  liars.  It  has  been  denied  by  priests,  by 
clergymen,  by  cardinals,  by  bishops  and  by  popes 
—  they  were  hypocrites. 

What  else  were  they  fighting  for?  For  the 
idea  that  all  political  power  is  vested  in  the  great 
body  of  the  people.  The  great  body  of  the  people 
make  all  the  money ;  do  all  the  work.  They  plow 
the  land,  cut-  down  the  forests ;  they  produce 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        165 

everything  that  is  produced.  Then  who  shall  say 
what  shall  be  done  with  what  is  produced  except 
the  producer?  Is  it  the  non-producing  thief,  sitting 
on  a  throne,  surrounded  by  vermin  ? 

Those  were  the  things  they  were  fighting  for; 
and  that  is  all  they  were  fighting  for.  They  fought 
to  build  up  a  new,  a  great  nation ;  to  establish  an 
asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  the  world  everywhere. 
They  knew  the  history  of  this  world.  They  knew 
the  history  of  human  slavery. 

The  history  of  civilization  is  the  history  of  the 
slow  and  painful  enfranchisement  of  the  human 
race.  In  the  olden  times  the  family  was  a  mon 
archy,  the  father  being  the  monarch.  The  mother 
and  children  were  the  veriest  slaves.  The  will  of 
the  father  was  the  supreme  law.  He  had  the 
power  of  life  and  death.  It  took  thousands  of 
years  to  civilize  this  father,  thousands  of  years  to 
make  the  condition  of  wife  and  mother  and  child 
even  tolerable.  A  few  families  constituted  a  tribe  ; 
the  tribe  had  a  chief;  the  chief  was  a  tyrant; 
a  few  tribes  formed  a  nation ;  the  nation  was 
governed  by  a  king,  who  was  also  a  tyrant.  A 
strong  nation  robbed,  plundered,  and  took  captive 
the  weaker  ones.  This  was  the  commencement  of 
human  slavery. 


166        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

It  is  not  possible  for  the  human  imagination  to 
conceive  of  the  horrors  of  slavery.  It  has  left  no 
possible  crime  uncommitted,  no  possible  cruelty 
unperpetrated.  It  has  been  practised  and  defended 
by  all  nations  in  some  form.  It  has  been  upheld 
by  all  religions.  It  has  been  defended  by  nearly 
every  pulpit.  From  the  profits  derived  from  the 
slave  trade  churches  have  been  built,  cathedrals 
reared  and  priests  paid.  Slavery  has  been  blessed 
by  bishop,  by  cardinal,  and  by  pope.  It  has 
received  the  sanction  of  statesmen,  of  kings,  and 
of  queens.  It  has  been  defended  by  the  throne, 
the  pulpit,  and  the  bench.  Monarchs  have  shared 
in  the  profits.  Clergymen  have  taken  their  part  of 
the  spoil,  reciting  passages  of  scripture  in  its 
defense  at  the  same  time,  and  judges  have  taken 
their  portion  in  the  name  of  equity  and  law. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  our  ancestors  were  slaves. 
Only  a  few  years  ago  they  passed  with  and  belong 
ed  to  the  soil,  like  coal  under  it  and  rocks 'on  it. 
Only  a  few  years  ago  they  were  treated  like  beasts 
of  burden,  worse  far  than  we  treat  our  animals  at 
the  present  -day.  Only  a  few  years  ago  it  was  a 
crime  in  England  for  a  man  to  have  a  bible  in  his 
house,  a  crime  for  which  men  were  hanged,  and 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        167 

their  bodies  afterwards  burned.  Only  a  few  years 
ago  fathers  could  and  did  sell  their  children.  Only 
a  few  years  ago  our  ancestors  were  not  allowed  to 
speak  or  write  their  thoughts  —  that  being  a  crime. 
Only  a  few  years  ago  to  be  honest,  at  least  in  the 
expression  of  your  ideas,  was  a  felony.  To  do 
right  was  a  capital  offense ;  and  in  those  days 
chains  and  whips  were  the  incentives  to  labor, 
and  the  preventives  of  thought.  Honesty  was  a 
vagrant,  justice  a  fugitive,  and  liberty  in  chains. 
Only  a  few  years  ago  men  were  denounced  because 
they  doubted  the  inspiration  of  the  bible  —  because 
they  denied  miracles  and  laughed  at  the  wonders 
recounted  by  the  ancient  Jews. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  a  man  had  to  believe  in 
the  total  depravity  of  the  human  heart  in  order  to 
be  respectable.  Only  a  few  years  ago,  people  who 
thought  God  too  good  to  punish  in  eternal  flames 
an  unbaptized  child  were  considered  infamous. 

As  soon  as  our  ancestors  began  to  get  free 
they  began  to  enslave  others.  With  an  inconsis 
tency  that  defies  explanation,  they  practiced  upon 
others  the  same  outrages  that  had  been  perpe 
trated  upon  them.  As  soon  as  white  slavery 
began  to  be  abolished,  black  slavery  commenced. 


168        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

In  this,  infamous  traffic  nearly  every  nation  of 
Europe  embarked.  Fortunes  were  quickly  real 
ized  ;  the  avarice  and  cupidity  of  ^urope  were 
excited ;  all  ideas  of  justice  were  discarded  ;  pity 
fled  from  the  human  breast;  a  few  good,  brave 
men  recited  the  horrors  of  the  trade ;  avarice  was 
deaf;  religion  refused  to  hear;  the  trade  went  on; 
the  governments  of  Europe  upheld  it  in  the  name 
of  commerce  —  in  the  name  of  civilization  and 
of  religion. 

Our  fathers  knew  the  history  of  caste.  They 
knew  that  in  the  despotisms  of  the  old  world  it  was 
a  disgrace  to  be  useful.  They  knew  that  a  me 
chanic  was  esteemed  as  hardly  the  equal  of  a 
hound,  and  far  below  a  blooded  horse.  They 
knew  that  a  nobleman  held  a  son  of  labor  in  con 
tempt —  that  he  had  no  rights  the  royal  loafers 
were  bound  to  respect. 

The  world  has  changed. 

The  other  day  there  came  shoemakers,  potters, 
workers  in  wood  and  iron  from  Europe,  and  they 
were  received  in  the  city  of  New  York  as  though 
they  had  been  princes.  They  had  been  sent  by 
the  great  republic  of  France  to  examine  into  the 
arts  and  manufactures  of  the  great  republic  of 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         169 

America.  They  looked  a  thousand  times  better 
to  me  than  the  Edward  Alberts  and  Albert  Ed 
wards —  the  royal  vermin,  that  live  on  the  body 
politic.  And  I  would  think  much  more  of  our 
government  if  it  would  fete  and  feast  them, 
instead  of  wining  and  dining  the  imbeciles  of  a 
royal  line. 

Our  fathers  devoted  their  lives  and  fortunes  to 
the  grand  work  of  founding  a'  government  for  the 
protection  of  the  rights  of  man.  The  theological 
idea  as  to  the  source  of  political  power  had 
poisoned  the  web  and  woof  of  every  government 
in  the  world,  and  our  fathers  banished  it  from  this 
continent  forever. 

What  we  want  to-day  is  what  our  fathers  wrote 
down.  They  did  not  attain  to  their  ideal ;  we 
approach  it  nearer,  but  have  not  reached  it  yet. 
We  want,  not  only  the  independence .  of  a  state, 
not  only  the  independence  of  a  nation,  but  some 
thing  far  more  glorious — the  absolute  independence 
of  the  individual.  That  is  what  we  want.  I  want 
it  so  that  I,  one  of  the  children  of  Nature,  can 
stand  on  an  equality  with  the  rest ;  that  I  can  say 
this  is  my  air,  my  sunshine,  my  earth,  and  I  have 
a  right  to  live,  and  hope,  and  aspire,  and  labor, 


170        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

and  enjoy  the    fruit  of  that  labor,  as  much  as  any 
individual  or  any  nation  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 

We  want  every  American  to  make  to-day,  on 
this  hundredth  anniversary,  a  declaration  of  indi 
vidual  independence.  Let  each  man  enjoy  his 
liberty  to  the  utmost  —  enjoy  all  he  can;  but  be 
sure  it  is  not  at  the  expense  of  another.  The 
French  convention  gave  the  best  definition  of 
liberty  I  have  ever  read:  "The  liberty  of  one 
citizen  ceases  only  where  the  liberty  of  another 
citizen  commences-."  I  know  of  no  better  defini 
tion.  I  ask  you  to-day  to  make  a  declaration  of 
individual  independence.  And  if  you  are  indepen 
dent,  be  just.  Allow  everybody  else  to  make  his 
declaration  of  individual  independence.  Allow 
your  wife,  allow  your  husband,  allow  your  children 
to  make  theirs.  Let  everybody  be  absolutely 
free  and  independent,  knowing  only  the  sacred 
obligation  of  honesty  and  affection.  Let  us  be 
independent  of  party,  independent  of  everybody 
and  everything  except  our  own  consciences  and  our 
own  brains.  Do  not  belong  to  any  clique.  Have 
the  clear  title  deeds  in  fee  simple  to  yourselves, 
without  any  mortgage  on  the  premises  to  any 
body  in  the  world. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        171 

It  is  a  grand  thing  to  be  the  owner  of  yourself. 
It  is  a  grand  thing  to  protect  the  rights  of  others. 
It  is  a  sublime  thing  to-be  free  and  just. 

Only  a  few  days  ago  I  stood  in  Independence 
Hall  —  in  that  little  room  where  was  signed  the 
immortal  paper.  A  little  room,  like  any  other; 
and  it  did  not  seem  possible  that  from  that  room 
went  forth  ideas,  like  cherubim  and  seraphim, 
spreading  their  wings  over  a  continent,  and  touch 
ing,  as  with  holy  fire,  the  hearts  of  men. 

In  a  few  moments  I  was  in  the  park,  where  are 
gathered  the  accomplishments  of  a  century.  Our 
fathers  never  dreamed  of  the  things  I  saw.  There 
were  hundreds  of  locomotives,  with  their  nerves  of 
steel  and  breath  of  flame^ — every  kind  of  machine, 
with  whirling  wheels  and  curious  cogs  and  cranks, 
and  the  myriad  thoughts  of  men  that  have  been 
wrought  in  iron,  brass  and  steel.  And  going  out 
from  one  little  building  were  wires  in  the  air, 
stretching  to  every  civilized  nation,  and  they  could 
send  a  shining  messenger  in  a  moment  to  any  part 
of  the  world,  and  it  would  go  sweeping  under  the 
waves  of  the  sea  with  thoughts  and  words  within  its 
glowing  heart.  I  saw  all  that  had  been  achieved 
by  this  nation,  and  I  wished  that  the  signers  of  the 


172        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

Declaration  —  the  soldiers  of  the  revolution  —  could 
see  what  a  century  of  freedom  has  produced.  I 
wished  they  could  see  the  fields  we  cultivate  —  the 
rivers  we  navigate  —  the  railroads  running  over  the 
Alleghanies,  far  into  what  was  then  the  unknown 
forest  —  on  over  the  broad  prairies  —  on  over  the 
vast  plains  —  away  over  the  mountains  of  the 
West,  to  the  Golden  Gate  of  the  Pacific. 

All  this  is  the  result  of  a  hundred  years  of 
freedom. 

Are  you  not  more  than  glad  that  in  17  j&  was 
announced  the  sublime  principle  that  political 
power  resides  with  the  people?  That  our  fathers 
then  made  up  their  minds  nevermore  to  be  colo 
nists  and  subjects,  but  that  they  would  be  free  and 
independent  citizens  of  America? 

I  will  not  name  any  of  the  grand  men  who 
fought  for  liberty.  All  should  be  named,  or  none. 
I  feel  that  the  unknown  soldier  who  was  shot 
down  without  even  his  name  being  remembered  — 
who  was  included  only  in  a  report  of  "a  hundred 
killed,"  or  "a  hundred  missing,"  nobody  knowing 
even  the  number  that  attached  to  his  august  corpse 
—  is  entitled  to  as  deep  and  heartfelt  thanks  as  the 
titled  leader  who  fell  at  the  head  of  the  host. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        173 

Standing  here  amid  the  sacred  memories  of  the 
first,  on  the  golden  threshold  of  the  second,  I  ask, 
Will  the  second  century  be  as  grand  as  the  first  ?  I 
believe  it  will,  because  we  are  growing  more  and 
more  humane,  I  believe  there  is  more  human 
kindness,  more  real,  sweet  human  sympathy,  a 
greater  desire  to  help  one  another,  in  the  United 
States,  than  in  all  the  world  besides. 

We  must  progress.  We  are  just  at  the  com 
mencement  of  invention.  The  steam  engine  —  the 
telegraph  —  these  are  but  the  toys  with  which 
science  has  been  amused.  Wait;  there  will  be 
grander  things ;  there  will  be  wider  and  higher 
culture  —  a  grander  standard  of  character,  of  liter 
ature,  and  art. 

We  have  now  half  as  many  millions  of  people 
as  we  have  years,  and  many  of  us  will  live  until  a 
hundred  million  stand  beneath  the  flag.  We  are 
getting  more  real  solid  sense.  The  school  house 
is  the  finest  building  in  the  village.  We  are 
writing  and  reading  more  books ;  we  are  painting 
and  buying  more  pictures';  we  are  struggling  more 
and  more  to  get  at  the  philosophy  of  life,  of  things 
—  trying  more  and  more  to  answer  the  questions 
of  the  eternal  Sphinx.  We  are  looking  in  every 


174        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

/ 
direction — investigating;  in  short,  we  are  thinking 

and  working.  Besides  all  this,  I  believe  the  people 
are  nearer  honest  than  ever  before.  A  few  years 
ago  we  were  willing  to  live  upon  the  labor  of  four 
million  slaves.  Was  that  honest?  At  last,  we 
have  a  national  conscience.  At  last,  we  have 
carried  out  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Our 
fathers  wrote  it — we  have  accomplished  it.  The 
black  man  was  a  slave — we  made  him  a  citizen. 
We  found  four  million  human  beings  in  manacles, 
and  now  the  hands  of  a  race  are  held  up  in  the 
free  air  without  a  chain. 

I  have  had  the  supreme  pleasure  of  seeing  a 
man  —  once  a  slave  —  sitting  in  the  seat  of  his 
former  master  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
I  have  had  that  pleasure,  and  when  I  saw  it  my 
eyes  were  filled  with  tears. ,  I  felt  that  we  had 
carried  out  the  Declaration  of  Independence, —  that 
we  had  given  reality  to  it,  and  breathed  the  breath 
of  life  into  its  every  word.  I  felt  that  our  flag 
would  float  over  and  protect  the  colored  man  and 
his  little  children  —  standing  straight  in  the  sun, 
just  the  same  as  though  he  were  white  and  worth  a 
million.  I  would  protect  him  more,  because  the 
rich  white  man  could  protect  himself. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        175 

All  who  stand  beneath  our  banner  are  free. 
Ours  is  the  only  flag  that  has  in  reality  written 
upon  it:  Liberty,  Fraternity,  Equality — the  three 
grandest  words  in  all  the  languages  of  men. 

Liberty:  Give  to  every  man  the  fruit  of  his 
own  labor — the  labor  of  his  hands  and  of  his 
brain. 

Fraternity:  Every  man  in  the  right  is  my 
brother. 

Equality  :  The  rights  of  all  are  equal :  Justice, 
poised  and  balanced  in  eternal  calm,  will  shake 
from  the  golden  scales,  in  which-  are  weighed  the 
acts  of  men,  the  very  dust  of  prejudice  and  caste : 
No  race,  no  color,  no  previous  condition,  can 
change  the  rights  of  men. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  has  at  last 
been  carried  out  in  letter  and  in  spirit. 

The  second  century  will  be  grander  than  the 
first. 

Fifty  millions  of  people  are  celebrating  this 
day.  To-day,  the  black  man  looks  upon  his  child 
and  says :  The  avenues  to  distinction  are  open  to 
you  —  upon  your  brow  may  fall  the  civic  wreath  — 
this  day  belongs  to  you. 


176        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

We  are  celebrating  the  courage  and  wisdom  of 
our  fathers,  and  the  glad  shout  of  a  free  people,  the 
anthem  of  a  grand  nation,  commencing  at  the 
Atlantic,  is  following  the  sun  to  the  Pacific,  across 
a-  continent  of  happy  homes. 

We  are  a  great  people.  Three  millions  have 
increased  to  fifty  —  thirteen  states  to  thirty-eight. 
We  have  better  homes,  better  clothes,  better  food 
and  more  of  it,  and  more  of  the  conveniencies  of 
life,  than  any  other  people  upon  the  globe. 

The  farmers  of  our  country  live  better  than  did 
the  kings  and  princes  two  hundred  years  ago — and 
they  have  twice  as  much  sense  and  heart.  Liberty 
and  labor  have  given  us  all.  I  want  every  person 
here  to  believe  in  the  dignity  of  labor  —  to  know 
that  the  respectable  man  is  the  useful  man  —  the 
man  who  produces  or  helps  others  to  produce 
something  of  value,  whether  thought  of  the  brain 
or  work  of  the  hand. 

I  want  you  to  go  away  with  an  eternal  hatred  in 
your  breast  of  injustice,  of  aristocracy,  of  caste,  of 
the  idea  that  one  man  has  more  rights  than  another 
because  he  has  better  clothes,  more  land,  more 
money,  because  he  owns  a  railroad,  or  is  famous 
and  in  high  position.  Remember  that  all  men  have 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        177 

equal  rights.  Remember  that  the  man  who  acts 
best  his  part  —  who  loves  his  friends  the  best  —  is 
most  willing  to  help  others  —  truest  to  the  dis 
charge  of  obligation  —  who  has  the  best  heart  — 
the  most  feeling — the  deepest  sympathies  —  and 
who  freely  gives  to  others  the  rights  that  he 
claims  for  himself,  is  the  best  man.  I  am  willing  to 
swear  to  this. 

What  has  made  this  country?  I  say  again, 
liberty  and  labor.  What  would  we  be  without 
labor?  I  want  every  farmer,  when  plowing  the 
rustling  corn  of  June  —  while  mowing  in  the  per 
fumed  fields  —  to  feel  that  he  is  adding  to  the 
wealth  and  glory  of  the  United  States.  I  want 
every  mechanic  — -^every  man  of  toil,  to  know  and 
feel  that  he  is  keeping  the  cars  running,  the  tele 
graph  wires  in  the  air ;  that  he  is  making  the 
statues  and  painting  the  pictures :  that  he  is 
writing  and  printing  the  books ;  that  he  is  helping 
to  fill  the  world  with  honor,  with  happiness,  with 
love  and  law. 

Our  country  is  founded  upon  the  dignity  of 
labor  —  upon  the  equality  of  man.  Ours  is  the 
first  real  republic  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
Beneath  our  flag  the  people  are  free.  We  have 

12 


178        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

retired  the  gods  from  politics.  We  have  found 
that  man  is  .the  only  source  of  political  power, 
and  .that  the  governed  should  govern.  We  have 
disfranchised  the  aristocrats  of  the  air  and  have 
given  one  country  to  mankind. 


ABOUT   FARMING  IN   ILLINOIS. 


To   PLOW    is   TO    PRAY — TO    PLANT   is   TO    PROPHECY,    AND 
THE  HARVEST  ANSWERS  AND  FULFILLS. 

I  AM  not  an  old  and  experienced  farmer,  nor  a 
tiller  of  the  soil,  nor  one  of  the  hard-handed 
sons  of  labor.  I  imagine,  however,  that  I  know 
something  about  cultivating  the  soil,  and  getting 
happiness  out  of  the  ground. 

I  know  enough  to  know  that  agriculture  is  the 
basis  of  all  wealth,  prosperity  and  luxury.  I  know 
that  in  a  country  where  the  tillers  of  the  fields  are 
free,  everybody  is  free  and  ought  to  be  prosperous. 
Happy  is  that  country  where  those  who  cultivate 
the  land  own  it.  Patriotism  is  born  in  the  woods 
and  fields — by  lakes  and  streams  —  by  crags  and 
plains. 

The  old  way  of  farming  was  a  great  mistake. 
Everything  was  done  the  wrong  way.  It  was  all 
work  and  waste,  weariness  and  want.  They  used 


182  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

to  fence  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  with  a 
couple  of  dogs.  Everything  was  left  to  the  pro 
tection  of  the  blessed  trinity  of  chance,  accident 
and  mistake. 

When  I  was  a  farmer  they  used  to  haul  wheat 
,  two  hundred  miles  in  wagons  and  sell  it  for  thirty- 
five  cents  a  bushel.  They  would  bring  home 
about  three  hundred  feet  of  lumber,  two  bunches 
of  shingles,  a  barrel  of  salt,  and  a  cook-stove  that 
never  would  draw  and  never  did  bake. 

In  those  blessed  days  the  people  lived  on  corn 
and  bacon.  Cooking  was  an  unknown  art.  Eating 
was  a  necessity,  not  a  pleasure.  It  was  hard  work 
for  the  cook  to  keep  on  good  terms  even  with 
hunger. 

We  had  poor  houses.  The  rain  held  the  roofs 
in  perfect  contempt,  and  the  snow  drifted  joyfully 
on  the  floors  and  beds.  They  had  no  barns. 
The  horses  were  kept  in  rail  pens  surrounded  with 
straw.  Long  before  spring  the  sides  would  be 
eaten  away  and  nothing  but  roofs  would  be  left. 
Food  is  fuel.  When  the  cattle  were  exposed  to 
all  the  blasts  of  winter,  it  took  all  the  corn  and 
oats  that  could  be  stuffed  into  them  to  prevent 
actual  starvation. 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  185 

In  those  times  most  farmers  thought  the  best 
place  for  the  pig-pen  was  immediately  in  front  of 
the  house.  There  is  nothing  like  sociability. 

Women  were  supposed  to  know  the  art  of 
making  fires  without  fuej.  The  wood  pile  con 
sisted,  as  a  general  thing,  of  one  log  upon  which 
an  axe  or  two  had  been  worn  out  in  vain.  There 
was  nothing  to  kindle  a  fire  with.  Pickets  were 
pulled  from  the  garden  fence,  clap-boards  taken 
from  the  house,  and  every  stray  plank  was  seized 
upon  for  kindling.  Everything  was  done  in  the 
hardest  way.  Everything  about  the  farm  was 
disagreeable.  Nothing  was  kept  in  order.  Noth 
ing  was  preserved.  The  wagons  stood  in  the  sun 
and  rain,  and  the  plows  rusted  in  the  fields.  There 
was  no  leisure,  no  feeling  that  the  work  was  done. 
It  was  all  labor  and  weariness  and  vexation  of 
spirit.  The  crops  were  destroyed  by  wandering 
herds,  or  they  were  put  in  too  late,  or  too  early,  or 
they  were  blown  down,  or  caught  by  the  frost,  or 
devoured  by  bugs,  or  stung  by  flies,  or  eaten  by 
worms,  or  carried  away  by  birds,  or  dug  up  by 
gophers,  or  washed  away  by  floods,  or  dried  up 
by  the  sun,  or  rotted  in  the  stack,  or  heated  in  the 
crib,  or  they  all  run  to  vines,  or  tops,  or  straw,  or 


184  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

smut,  or  cobs.  And  when  in  spite  of  all  these 
accidents  that  lie  in  wait  between  the  plow  and 
the  reaper,  they  did  succeed  in  raising  a  good 
crop  and  a  high  price  was  offered,  then  the  rdads 
would  be  impassable.  And  when  the  roads  got 
good,  then  the  prices  went  down.  Everything 
worked  together  for  evil. 

Nearly  every  farmer's  boy  took  an  oath  that  he 
never  would  cultivate  the  soil.  The  moment  they 
arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  they  left  the 
desolate  and  dreary  farms  and  rushed  to  the 
towns  and  cities.  They  wanted  to  be  book 
keepers,  doctors,  merchants,  railroad  men,  insur 
ance  agents,  lawyers,  even  preachers,  anything  to 
avoid  the  drudgery  of  the  farm.  Nearly  every  boy 
acquainted  with  the  three  R's  —  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic  —  imagined  that  he  had  altogether 
more  education  than  ought  to  be  wasted  in  raising 
potatoes  and  corn.  They  made  haste  to  get  into 
some  other  business.  Those  who  stayed  upon  the 
farm  envied  those  who  went  away. 

A  few  years  ago  the  times  were  prosperous, 
and  the  young  men  went  to  the  cities  to  enjoy  the 
fortunes  that  were  waiting  for  them.  They  wanted 
to  engage  in  something  that  promised  quick 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  185 

returns.  They  built  railways,  established  banks 
and  insurance  companies.  They  speculated  in 
stocks  in  Wall  Street,  and  gambled  in  grain  at 
Chicago.  They  became  rich.  They  lived  in 
palaces.  They  rode  in  carriages.  They  pitied 
their  poor  brothers  on  the  farms,  and  the  poor 
brothers  envied  them. 

But  time  has  brought  its  revenge.  The  farmers 
have  seen  the  railroad  president  a  bankrupt,  and 
the  road  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver.  They  have 
seen  the  bank  president  abscond,  and  the  insurance 
company  a  wrecked  and  ruined  fraud.  The  only 
solvent  people,  as  a  class,  the  only  independent 
people,  are  the  tillers  of  the  soil. 

Farming  must  be  made  more  attractive.  The 
comforts  of  the  town  must  be  added  to  the  beauty 
of  the  fields.  The  sociability  of  the  city  must  be 
rendered  possible  in  the  country. 

Farming  has  been  made  repulsive.  The  farm 
ers  have  been  unsociable  and  their  homes  have 
been  lonely.  They  have  been  wasteful  and  care 
less.  They  have  not  been  proud  of  their  business. 

In  the  first  place,  farming  ought  to  be  reason 
ably  profitable.  The  farmers  have  not  attended  to 
their  own  interests.  They  have  been  robbed  and 
plundered  in  a  hundred  ways. 


1  Sti  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

No  farmer  can  afford  to  raise  corn  and  oats  and 
hay  to  sell.  He  should  sell  horses,  not  oats;  sheep, 
cattle  and  pork,  not  corn.  He  should  make  every 
profit  possible  out  of  what  he  produces.  So  long 
as  the  farmers  of  Illinois  ship  their  corn  and  oats, 
so  long  they  will  be  poor, — just  so  long  will  their 
farms  be  mortgaged  to  the  insurance  companies 
and  banks  of  the  east, — just  so  long  will  they  do 
the  work  and  others  reap  the  benefit, — just  so  long 
will  they  be  poor,  and  the  money  lenders  grow 
rich, — just  so  long  will  cunning  avarice  grasp  and 
hold  the  net  profits  of  honest  toil.  When  the 
farmers  of  the  west  ship  beef  and  pork  instead  of 
grain, —  wrhen  we  manufacture  here, —  when  we 
cease  paying  tribute  to  others,  ours  will  be  the 
most  prosperous  country  in  the  world. 

Another  thing  —  It  is  just  as  cheap  to  raise  a 
good  as  a  poor  breed  of  cattle.  Scrubs  will  eat 
just  as  much  as  thoroughbreds.  If  you  are  not 
able  to  buy  Durhams  and  Alderneys,  you  can 
raise  the  corn  breed.  By  "corn  breed"  I  mean 
the  cattle  that  have,  for  several  generations,  had 
enough  to  eat,  and  have  been  treated  with 
kindness.  Every  farmer  who  will  treat  his  cattle 
kindly,  and  feed  them  all  they  want,  will,  in  a 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  187 

few  years,  have  blooded  stock  on  his  farm.  All 
blooded  stock  has  been  produced  in  this  way.  You 
can  raise  good  cattle  just  as  you  can  raise  good 
people.  If  you  wish  to  raise  a  good  boy  you  must 
give  him  plenty  to  eat,  and  treat  him  with  kindness. 
In  this  way,  and  in  this  way  only,  can  good  cattle 
or  good  people  be  produced. 

Another  thing  —  You  must  beautify  your  homes. 

When  I  was  a  farmer  it  was  not  fashionable  to 
set  out  trees,  nor  to  plant  vines. 

When  you  visited  the  farm  you  were  not  wel 
comed  by  flowers,  and  greeted  by  trees  loaded 
with  fruit.  Yellow  dogs  came  bounding  over  the 
tumbled  fence  like  wild  beasts.  There  is  no  sense 
—  there  is  no  profit  in  such^a  life.  It  is  not  living. 
The  farmers  ought  to  beautify  their  homes.  There 
should  be  trees  and  grass  and  flowers  and  running 
vines.  Everything  should  be  kept  in  order — gates 
should  be  on  their  hinges,  and  about  all  there 
should  be  the  pleasant  air  of  thrift.  In  every 
house  there  should  be  a  bath-room.  The  bath  is  a 
civilizer,  a  refiner,  a  beautifier.  When-  you  come 
from  the  fields  tired,  covered  with  dust,  nothing  is 
so  refreshing.  Above  all  things,  keep  clean.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  be  -a  pig  in  order  to  raise  one.  In 


188  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

the  cool  of  the  evening,  after  a  day  in  the  field,  put 
on  clean  clothes,  take  a  seat  under  the  trees,  'mid 
the  perfume  "of  flowers,  surrounded  by  your  family, 
and  you  will  know  what  it  is  to  enjoy  life  like  a 
gentleman. 

In  no  part  of  the  globe  will  farming  pay  better 
than  in  Illinois.  You  are  in  the  best  portion  of  the 
earth.  From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  there  is 
no  such  country  as  yours.  The  east  is  hard  and 
stony  ;  the  soil  is  stingy.  The  far  west  is  a  desert 
parched  and  barren,  dreary  and  desolate  as  perdi 
tion  would  be  with  the  fires  out.  It  is  better  to 
dig  wheat  and  corn  from  the  soil  than  gold.  Only 
a  few  days  ago  I  was  where  they  wrench  the 
precious  metals  from  the  miserly  clutch  of  the 
rocks.  When  I  saw  the  mountains,  treeless,  shrub- 
less,  flowerless,  without  even  a  spire  of  grass,  it 
seemed  to  me  that  gold  had  the  same  effect  upon 
the  country  that  holds  it,  as  upon  the  man  who 
lives  and  labors  only  for  that.  It  affects  the  land 
as  it  does  the  man.  It  leaves  the  heart  barren 
without  a  flower  of  kindness  —  without  a  blossom 
of  pity. 

The  farmer  in  Illinois  has  the  best  soil  —  the 
greatest  return  for  the  least  labor — more  leisure  — 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  189 

more  time  for  enjoyment  than  any  other  farmer  in 
the  world.  His  hard  work  ceases  with  autumn. 
He  has  the  long  winters  in  which  to  become 
acquainted  with  his  family  —  with  his  neighbors  — 
in  which  to  read  and  keep  abreast  with  the 
advanced  thought  of  his  day.  He  has  the  time  and 
means  for  self-culture.  He  has  more  time  than  the 
mechanic,  the  merchant  or  the  professional  man. 
If  the  farmer  is  not  well  informed  it  is  his  own 
fault.  Books  are  cheap,  and  every  farmer  can  have 
enough  to  give  him  the  outline  of  every  science, 
and  an  idea  of  all  that  has  been  accomplished  by 
man. 

In  many  respects  the  farmer  has  the  advantage 
of  the  mechanic.  In  our  time  we  have  plenty  of 
mechanics  but  no  tradesmen.  In  the  sub-division 
of  labor  we  have  a  thousand  men  working  upon 
different  parts  of  the  same  thing,  each  taught  in 
one  particular  branch,  and  in  only  one.  We  have, 
say,  in  a  shoe  factory,  hundreds  of  men,  but  not 
one  shoemaker.  It  takes  them  all,  assisted  by  a 
great  number  of  machines,  to  make  a  shoe.  Each 
does  a  particular  part,  and  not  one  of  them  knows 
the  entire  trade.  The  result  is  that  the  moment  the 
factory  shuts  down  these  men  are  out  of  employ- 


190  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

ment.  Out  of  employment  means  out  of  bread  — 
out  of  bread  means  famine  and  horror.  The 
mechanic  of  to-day  has  but  little  independence. 
His  prosperity  often  depends  upon  the  good  will  of 
one  man.  He  is  liable  to  be  discharged  for  a  look, 
for  a  word.  He  lays  by  but  little  for  his  declining 
years.  He  is,  at  the  best,  the  slave  of  capital. 

It  is  a  thousand  times  better  to  be  a  whole 
farmer  than  part  of  a  mechanic.  It  is  better  to  till 
the  ground  and  work  for  yourself  than  to  be  hired 
by  corporations.  Every  man  should  endeavor  to 
belong  to -himself. 

About  seven  hundred  years  ago,  Kheyam,  a 
Persian,  said:  "Why  should  a  man  who  possesses 
a  piece  of  bread  securing  life  for  two  days,  and 
who  has  a  cup  of  water — why  should  such  a  man 
be  commanded  by  another,  and  why  should  such  a 
man  serve  another?" 

Young  men  should  not  be  satisfied  with  a 
salary.  Do  not  mortgage  the  possibilities  of  your 
future.  Have  the  courage  to  take  life  as  it  comes, 
feast  or  famine.  Think  of  hunting  a  gold  mine  for 
a  dollar  a  day,  and  think  of  finding  one  for  another 
man.  How  would  you  feel  then? 

We  are  lacking  in  true  courage,  when,  for  fear 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  191 

of  the  future,  we  take  the  crusts  and  scraps  and 
niggardly  salaries  of  the  present.  I  had  a  thousand 
times  rather  have  a  farm  and  be  independent,  than 
to  be  President  of  the  United  States  without  inde 
pendence,  filled  with  doubt  and  trembling,  feeling 
of  the  popular  pulse,  resorting  to  art  and  artifice, 
enquiring  about  the  wind  of  opinion,  and  suc 
ceeding  at  last  in  losing  my  self  respect  without 
gaining  the  respect  of  others. 

Man  needs  more  manliness,  more  real  indepen- 

• 

dence.  We  must  take  care  of  ourselves.  This 
we  can  do  by  labor,  and  in  this  way  we  can 
preserve  our  independence.  We  should  try  and 
choose  that  business  or  profession  the  pursuit  of 
which  will  give  us  the  most  happiness.  Happiness 
is  wealth.  We  can  be  happy  without  being  rich  — 
without- holding  office — without  being  famous.  I 
am  not  sure  that  we  can  be  happy  with  wealth, 
with  office,  or  with  fame. 

There  is  a  quiet  about  the  life  of  a  farmer,  and 
the  hope  of  a  serene  old  age,  that  no  other  business 
or  profession  can  promise.  A  professional  man  is 
doomed  sometime  to  feel  that  his  powers  are 
waning.  He  is  doomed  to  see  younger  and 
stronger  men  pass  him  in  the  race  of  life.  He 


1!>2  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

looks  forward  to  an  old  age  of  intellectual  medioc 
rity.  He  will  be  last  where  once  he  was  the  first. 
But  the  farmer  goes,  as  it  were,  into  partnership 
with  nature  —  he  lives  with  trees  and  flowers  — 
he  breathes  the  sweet  air  of  the  fields.  There  is 
no  constant  and  frightful  strain  upon  his  mind. 
His  nights  are  filled  with  sleep  and  rest. 
He  watches  his  flocks  and  herds  as  they  feed 
upon  the  green  and  sunny  slopes.  He  hears  the 
pleasant  rain  falling  upon  the  waving  corn,  and  the 
trees  he  planted  in  youth  rustle  above  him  as  he 
plants  others  for  the  children  yet  to  be. 

Our  country  is  filled  with  the  idle  and  unem 
ployed,  and  the  great  question  asking  for  an 
answer  is:  What  shall  be  done  with  these  men? 
What  shall  these  men  do?  To  this  there  is  but 
one  answer:  They  must  cultivate  the  soil.  .  Farm 
ing  must  be  rendered  more  attractive.  Those  who 
work  the  land  must  have  an  honest  pride  in  their 
business.  They  must  educate  their  children  to 
cultivate  the  soil.  They  must  make  farming  easier, 
so  that  their  children  will  not  hate  it  —  so  that  they 
will  not  hate  it  themselves.  The  boys  must  not  be 
taught  that  tilling  the  grorind  is  a  curse  and  almost 
a  disgrace.  They  must  not  suppose  that  education 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  193 

is  thrown  away  upon  them  unless  they  become 
ministers,  merchants,  lawyers,  doctors,  or  states 
men.  It  must  be  understood  that  education  can 
be  used  to  advantage  on  a  farm.  We  must  get  rid 
of  the  idea  that  a  little  learning  unfits  one  for  work. 
There  is  no  real  conflict  between  Latin  and  labor. 
There  are  hundreds  of  graduates  of  Yale  and 
Harvard  and  other  colleges,  who  are  agents  of 
sewing  machines,  solicitors  for  insurance,  clerks, 
copyists,  in  short,  performing  a  hundred  varieties 
of  menial  service.  They  seem  willing  to  do  any 
thing  that  is  not  regarded  as  work  —  anything 
that  can  be  done  in  a  town,  in  the  house,  in 
an  office,  but  they  avoid  farming  as  they  would  a 
leprosy.  Nearly  every  young  man  educated  in  this 
way  is  simply  ruined.  Such  an  education  ought  to 
be  called  ignorance.  It  is  a  thousand  times  better 
to  have  common  sense  without  education,  than 
education  without  the  sense.  Boys  and  girls 
should  be  educated  to  help  themselves.  They 
should  be  taught  that  it  is  disgraceful  to  be  idle, 
and  dishonorable  to  be  useless. 

I  say  again,  if  you  want  more  men  and  women 
on  the   farms,   something  must  be  done  to  make 
farm  life  pleasant.     One  great  difficulty  is  that  the 
13 


194  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

farm  is  lonely.  People  write  about  the  pleasures 
of  solitude,  but  they  are  found  only  in  books.  He 
who  lives  long  alone  becomes  insane.  A  hermit  is 
a  madman.  Without  friends  and  wife  and  child, 
there  is  nothing  left  worth  living  for.  The  unsocial 
are  the  enemies  of  joy.  They  are  filled  with 
egotism  and  envy,  with  vanity  and  hatred.  People 
who  live  much  alone  become  narrow  and  suspicious. 
They  are  apt  to  be  the  property  of  one  idea.  They 
begin  to  think  there  is  no  use  in  anything.  They 
look  upon  the  happiness  of  others  as  a  kind  of 
folly.  They  hate  joyous  folks,  because,  way  down 
in  their  hearts,  they  envy  them. 

In  our  country,  farm-life  is  too  lonely.  The 
farms  are  large,  and  neighbors  are  too  far  apart. 
In  these  days,  when  the  roads  are  filled  with 
"tramps,"  the  wive3  and  children  need  protection. 
When  the  farmer  leaves  home  and  goes  to  some 
distant  field  to  work,  a  shadow  of  fear  is  upon  his 
heart  all  day,  and  a  like  shadow  rests  upon  all  at 
home. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  our  country  the 
pioneer  was  forced  to  take  his  family,  his  axe,  his 
dog  and  his  gun,  and  go  into  the  far  wild  forest, 
and  build  his  cabin  miles  and  miles  from  any 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  195 

neighbor.  He  saw  the  smoke  from  his  hearth  go 
up  alone  in  all  the  wide  and  lonely  sky. 

But  this  necessity  has  passed  away,  and  now, 
instead  of  living  so  far  apart  upon  the  lonely  farms, 
you  should  live  in  villages.  With  the  improved 
machinery  which  you  have  —  with  your  generous 
soil  —  with  your  markets  and  means  of  transporta 
tion,  you  can  now  afford  to  live  together. 

It  is  not  necessary  in  this  age  of  the  world  for 
the  farmer  to  rise  in  the  middle  of  the  night  and 
begin  his  work.  This  getting  up  so  early  in  the 
morning  is  a  relic  of  barbarism.  It  has  made 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  young  men  curse  the 
business.  There  is  no  need  of  getting  up  at  three 
or  four  o'clock  in  the  winter  morning.  The  farmer 
who  persists  in  doing  it  and  persists  in  dragging 
his  wife  and  children  from  their  beds  ought  to  be 
visited  by  a  missionary.  It  is  time  enough  to  rise 
after  the  sun-  has  set  the  example.  For  what 
purpose  do  you  get  up?  To  feed  the  cattle? 
Why  not  feed  them  more  the  night  before  ?  It  is 
a  waste  of  life.  In  the  old  times  they  used  to  get 
up  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  go  to 
work  long  before  the  sun  had  risen  with  "heal 
ing  upon  his  wings,"  and  as  a  just  punishment  they 


196  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

all  had  the  ague ;  and  they  ought  to  have  it  now. 
The  man  who  cannot  -get  a  living  upon  Illinois  soil 
without  rising  before  daylight  ought  to  starve. 
Eight  hours  a  day  is  enough  for  any  farmer  to 
work  except  in  harvestx  time.  When  you  rise  at 
four  and  work  till  dark  what  is  life  worth  ?  Of 
what  use  are  all  the  improvements  in  farming?  Of 
what  use  is  all  the  improved  machinery  unless  it 
tends  to  give  the  farmer  a  little  more  leisure? 
What  is  harvesting  now,  compared  with  what 
it  was  in  the  old  time  ?  Think  of  the  days  of 
reaping,  of  cradling,  of  raking  and  binding  and 
mowing.  Think  of  threshing  with  the  flail  and 
winnowing  with  the  wind.  And  now  think  of  the 
reapers  and  mowers,  the  binders  and  threshing 
machines,  the  plows  and  cultivators,  upon  which 
the  farmer  rides  protected  from  the  sun.  If,  with 
all  these  advantages,  you  cannot  get  a  living  with 
out  rising  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  go  into  some 
other  business.  You  should  not  rob  your  families 
of  sleep.  Sleep  is  the  best  medicine  in  the  world. 
It  is  the  best  doctor  upon  the  earth.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  health  without  plenty  of  sleep. 
Sleep  until  you  are  thoroughly  rested  and  restored. 
When  you  work,  work;  and  when  you  get  through 
take  a  good,  long,  and  refreshing  rest. 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  197 

You  should  live  in  villages,  so  that  you  can 
have  the  benefits  of  social  life.  You  can  have  a 
reading-room  —  you  can  take  the  best  papers  and 
magazines  —  you  can  have  plenty  of  books,  and 
each  one  can  have  the  benefit  of  them  all.  Some 
of  the  young  men  and  women  can  cultivate  music. 
You  can  have  social  gatherings  —  you  can  learn 
from  each  other — you  can  discuss  all  topics  of 
interest,  and  in  this  way  you  can  make  farming  a 
delightful  business.  You  must  keep  up  with  the 
age.  The  way  to  make  farming  respectable  is  for 
farmers  to  become  really  intelligent.  They  must 
live  intelligent  and  happy  lives.  They  must  know 
something  of  books  and  something  of  what  is  going 
on  in  the  world.  They  must  not  be  satisfied  with 
knowing  something  of  the  affairs  of  a  neighbor 
hood  and  nothing  about  the  rest  of  the  earth.  The 
business  must  be  made  attractive,  and  it  never  can 
be  until  the  farmer  has  prosperity,  intelligence  and 
leisure. 

Another  thing  —  I  am  a  believer  in  fashion.  It 
is  the  duty  of  every  woman  to  make  herself  as 
beautiful  and  attractive  as  she  possibly  can. 

"Handsome  is  as  handsome  does,"  but  she  is 
much  handsomer  if  well  dressed.  Every  man 


198  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

should  look  his  very  best.  I  am  a  believer  in  good 
clothes.  The  time  never  ought  to  come  in  this 
country  when  you  can  tell  a  farmer's  wife  or 
daughter  simply  by  the  garments  she  wears.  I  say 
to  every  girl  and  woman,  no  matter  what  the 
material  of  your  dress  may  be,  no  matter  how 
cheap  and  coarse  it  is,  cut  it  and  make  it  in  the 
fashion.  I  believe  in  jewelry.  Some  people  look 
upon  it  as  barbaric,  but  in  my  judgment,  wearing 
jewelry  is  the  first  evidence  the  barbarian  gives  of 
a  wish  to  be  civilized.  To  adorn  ourselves  seems 
to  be  a  part  of  our  nature,  and  this  desire  seems,  to 
be  everywhere  and  in  everything.  I  have  some 
times  thought  that  the  desire  for  beauty  covers  the 
earth  with  flowers.  It  is  this  desire  that  paints  the 
wings  of  moths,  tints  the  chamber  of  the  shell, 
and  gives  the  bird  its  plumage  and  its  song.  Oh 
daughters  and  wives, "if  you  would  be  loved,  adorn 
yourselves — if  you  would  be  adored,  be  beautiful! 
There  is  another  fault  common  with  the  farmers 
of  our  country — they  want  too  much  land.  You 
cannot,  at  present,  when  taxes  are  high,  afford  to 
own  land  that  you  do  not  cultivate.  Sell  it  and  let 
others  make  farms  and  homes.  In  this  way  what 
you  keep  will  be  enhanced  in  value.  Farmers 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  199 

ought  to  own  the  land  they  cultivate,  and  cultivate 
what  they  own.  Renters  can  hardly  be  called 
farmers.  There  can  be  no  such  thing  in  the  high 
est  sense  as  a  home  unless  you  own  it.  There 
must  be  an  incentive  to  plant  trees,  to  beautify  the 
grounds,  to  preserve  and  improve.  It  elevates  a 
man  to  own  a  home.  It  gives  •  a  certain  indepen 
dence,  a  force  of  character  that  is  obtained  in  no 
other,  way.  A  man  without  a  home  feels  like  a 
passenger.  There  is  in  such  a  man  a  little  of  the 
vagrant.  Homes  make  patriots.  He  who  has  sat 
by  his  own  fireside  with  wife  and  children  will 
defend  it.  When  he  hears  the  word  country  pro 
nounced,  he  thinks  of  his  home. 

Few  men  have  been  patriotic  enough  to  shoul 
der  a  musket  in  defence  of  a  boarding  house. 

'  The  prosperity  and  glory  of  our  country  depend 
upon  the  number  of  our  people  who  are  the  owners 
of  homes.  Around  the  fireside  cluster  the  private 
and  the  public  virtues  of  our  race.  Raise  your 
sons  to  be  independent  through  labor  —  to  pursue 
some  business  for  themselves  and  upon  their  own 
account  —  to  be  self-reliant — to  act  upon  their  own 
responsibility,  and  to  take  the  consequences  like 
men.  Teach  them  above  all'  things  to  be  good, 


200  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

true  and   tender   husbands — winners  of  love  and 
builders  of  homes. 

A  great  many  farmers  seem  to  think  that  they 
are  the  only  laborers  in  the  world.  This  is  a  very 
foolish  thing.  Farmers  cannot  get  along  without 
the  mechanic.  You  are  not  independent  of  the 
man  of  genius.  Your  prosperity  depends  upon  the 
inventor.  The  world  advances  by  the  assistance  of 
all  laborers ;  and  all  labor  is.  under  obligations  to 
the  inventions  of  genius.  The  inventor  does  as 
much  for.  agriculture  as  he  who  tills  the  soil.  All 
laboring  men  should  be  brothers.  You  are  in  part 
nership  with  the  mechanics  who  make  your  reapers, 
your  mowers  and  your  plows ;  and  you  should  take 
into  your  granges  all  the  men  who  make  their 
living  by  honest  labor.  The  laboring  people  should 
unite  and  should  protect  themselves  against  all 
idlers.  You  can  divide  mankind  into  two  classes: 
the  laborers  and  the  idlers,  the  supporters  and  the 
supported,  the  honest  and  the  dishonest.  Every 
man  is  dishonest  who  lives  upon  the  unpaid'  labor 
of  others,  no  matter  if  he  occupies  a  throne.  Ail 
laborers  should  be  brothers.  The  laborers  should 
have  equal  rights  before  the  world  and  before  the 
law.  And  I  want  every  farmer  to  consider  every 


I 

ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  201 

man  who  labors  either  with  hand  or  brain  as  his 
brother.  Until  genius  and  labor  formed  a  partner 
ship  there  was  no  such  thing  as  prosperity  among 
men.  Every  reaper  and  mower,  every  agricultural 
implement,  has  elevated  the  work  of  the  farmer, 
and  his  vocation  grows  grander  with  every  inven 
tion.  In  the  olden  time  the  agriculturist  was 
ignorant;  he  knew  nothing  of  machinery,  he  was 
the  slave  of  superstition.  He  was  always  trying  to 
appease  some  imaginary  power  by  fasting  and 
prayer.  He  supposed  that  some  being  actuated 
by  malice,  sent  the  untimely  frost,  or  swept  away 
with  the  wild  wind  his  rude  abode.  To  him  the 
seasons  were  mysteries.  The  thunder  told  him  of 
an  enraged  god — the  barren  fields  of  the  vengeance 
-of  heaven.  The  tiller  of  the  soil  lived  in  perpetual 
and  abject  fear.  He  knew  nothing  of  mechanics, 
nothing  of  order,  nothing  of  law,  nothing  of  cause 
and  effect.  He  was  a  superstitious  savage.  He 
invented  prayers  instead  of  plows,  creeds  instead  of 
reapers  and  mowers.  He  was  unable  to  devote  all 
his  time  to  the  gods,  and  so  he  hired  others  to 
assist  him,  and  for  their  influence  with  the  gentle 
men  supposed  to  Control  the  weather,  he  gave 
one-tenth  of  all  he  could  produce. 


202  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

The  farmer  has  been  elevated  through  science 
and  he  should  not  forget  the  debt  he  owes  to  the 
mechanic,  to  the  inventor,  to  the  thinker.  He 
should  remember  that  all  laborers  belong  to  the 
same  grand  family  —  that  they  are  the  real  kings 
and  queens,  the  only  true  nobility. 

Another  idea  entertained  by  most  farmers  is 
that  they  are  in  some  mysterious  way  oppressed 
by  every  other  kind  of  business  —  that  they  are 
devoured  by  monopolies,  especially  by  railroads. 

Of  course,  the  railroads  are  indebted  to  the 
farmers  for  their  prosperity,  and  the  farmers  are 
indebted  to  the  railroads.  Without  them  Illinois 
would  be  almost  worthless. 

A  few  years  ago  you  endeavored  to  regulate, 
the  charges  of  railroad  companies.  The  principal 
complaint  you  had  was  that  they  charged  too  much 
for  the  transportation  of  corn  and  other  cereals  to 
the  East.  You  should  remember  that  all  freights 
are  paid  by  the  consumer;  and  that  it  made  little 
difference  to  you  what  the  railroad  charged  for 
transportation  to  the  East,  as  that  transportation 
had  to  be  paid  by  the  consumers  of  the  grain. 
You  were  really  interested  in  transportation  from 
the  East  to  the  West  and  in  local  freights.  The 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  203 

result  is  that  while  you  have  put  down  through 
freights  you  have  not  succeeded  so  well  in  local 
freights.  The  exact  opposite  should  be  the  policy 
of  Illinois.  Put  down  local  freights ;  put  them 
down,  if  you  can,  to  the  lowest  possible  figure,  and 
let  through  rates  take  of  themselves.  If  all  the 
corn  raised  in  Illinois  could  be  transported  to 
New  York  absolutely  free,  it  would  enhance  but 
little  the  price  that  you  would  receive.  What  we 
want  is  the  lowest  possible  local  rate.  Instead  of 
this  you  have  simply  succeeded  in  helping  the  East 
at  the  expense  of  the  West.  The  railroads  are 
your  friends.  They  are  your  partners.  They  can 
prosper  only  where  the  country  through  which 
they  run  prospers.  All  intelligent  railroad  men 
know  this.  They  know  that  present  robbery  is 
future  bankruptcy.  They  know  that  the  interest 
of  the  farmer  and  of  the  railroad  is  the  same. 
We  must  have  railroads.  What  can  we  do  with 
out  them? 

When  we  had  no  railroads,  we  drew,  as  I  said 
before,  our  grain  two  hundred  miles  to  market. 

In  those  days  the  farmers  did  not  stop  at  hotels. 
They  slept  under  their  wagons  —  took  with  them 
their  food  —  fried  their  own  bacon,  made  their 


204  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

coffee,  and  ate  their  meals  in  the  snow  and  rain. 
Those  were  the  days  when  they  received  ten  cents 
a  bushel  for  corn  —  when  they  sold  four  bushels  of 
potatoes  for  a  quarter — thirty-three  dozen  eggs 
for  a  dollar,  and  a  hundred  pounds  of  pork  for  a 
dollar  and  a  half. 

What  has  made  the  difference? 

The  railroads  came  to  your  door  and  they 
brought  with  them  the  markets  of  the  world. 
They  brought  New  York  and  Liverpool  and  Lon 
don  into  Illinois,  and  the  state  has  been  clothed 
with  prosperity  as  with  a  mantle.  It  is  the  interest 
of  the  farmer  to  protect  every  great  interest  in  the 
state.  You  should  feel  proud  that  Illinois  has 
more  railroads  than  any  other  state  in  this  Union. 
Her  main  tracks  and. side  tracks  would  furnish  iron 
enough  to  belt  the  globe.  In  Illinois  there  are  ten 
thousand  miles  of  railways.  In  these  iron  high 
ways  more  than  three  hundred  million  dollars  have 
been  invested  —  a  sum  equal  to  ten  times  the 
original  cost  of  all  the  land  in  the  state.  To  make 
war  upon  the  railroads  is  a  short-sighted  and 
suicidal  policy.  They  should  be  treated  fairly  and 
should  be  taxed  by  the  same  standard  that  farms 
are  taxed,  and  in  no  other  way.  If  we  wish  to 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  205 

prosper  we  must  act  together,  and  we  must  see  to 
it  that  every  form  of  labor  is  protected. 

There  has  been  a  long  period  of  depression  in 
all  business.  The  farmers  have  suffered  least  of 
all.  Your  land  is  just  as  rich  and  productive  as 
ever.  Prices  have  been  reasonable.  The  towns 
and  cities  have  suffered.  Stocks  and  bonds  have 
shrunk  from  par  to  worthless  paper.  Princes  have 
become  paupers,  and  bankers,  merchants  and 
millionaires  have  passed  into  the  oblivion  of  bank 
ruptcy.  The  period  of  depression  is  slowly  passing 
away,  and  we  are  entering  upon  better  times. 

A  great  many  people  say  that  a  scarcity  of 
money  is  our  only  difficulty.  In  my  opinion  we 
have  money  enough,  but  we  lack  confidence  in 
each  other  and  in  the  future. 

There  has  been  so  much  dishonesty,  there  have 
been  so  many  failures,  that  the  people  are  afraid  to 
trust  anybody.  There  is  plenty  of  money,  but 
there  seems  to  be  a  scarcity  of  business.  If  you 
were  to  go  to  the*  owner  of  a  ferry,  and,  upon 
seeing  his  boat  lying  high  and  dry  on  the  shore, 
should  say,  "There  is  a  superabundance  of  ferry 
boat,"  he  would  probably  reply,  "  No,  but  there  is 
a  scarcity  of  water."  So  with  us  there  is  not  a 


206  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

scarcity  of  money,  but  there  is  a  scarcity  of  busi 
ness.  And  this  scarcity  springs  from  lack  of 
confidence  in  one  another.  So  many  presidents  of 
savings  banks,  even  those  belonging  to  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  run  off  with  the  funds ; 
so  many  railroad  and  insurance  companies  are  in 
the  hands  of  receivers ;  there  is  so  much  bank 
ruptcy  on  every  hand,  that  all  capital  is  held  in  the 
nervous  clutch  of  fear.  Slowly,  but  surely  we  are 
coming  back  to  honest  methods  in  business.  Con 
fidence  will  return,  and  then  enterprise  will  unlock 
the  safe  and  money  will  again  circulate  as  of  yore ; 
the  dollars  will  leave  their  hiding  places  and  every 
one  will  be  seeking  investment. 

For  my  part,  I  do  not  ask  any  interference  on 
the  part  of  the  government  except  to  undo  the 
wrong  it  has  done.  I  do  not  ask  that  money  be 
made  out  of  nothing.  I  do  not  ask  for  the  pros 
perity  born  of  paper.  But  I  do  ask  for  the  remon- 
etization  of  silver.  Silver  was  demonetized  by 
fraud.  It  was  an  imposition  upon  every  solvent 
man ;  a  fraud  upon  every  honest  debtor  in  the 
United  States.  It  assassinated  labor.  It  was  done 
in  the  interest  of  avarice  and  greed,  and  should  be 
undone  by  honest  men. 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  207 

The  farmers  should  vote  only  for  such  men  as 
are  able  and  willing  to  guard  and  advance  the 
interests  of  labor.  We  should  know  better  than  to 
vote  for  men  who  will  deliberately  put  a  tariff  of 
three  dollars  a  thousand  upon  Canada  lumber, 
when  every  farmer  in  Illinois  is  a  purchaser  of 
lumber.  People  who  live  upon  the  prairies  ought 
to  vote  for  cheap  lumber.  We  should  protect 
ourselves.  We  ought  to  have  intelligence  enough 
to  know  what  we  want  and  how  to  get  it.  The 
real  laboring  men  of  this  country  can  succeed  if 
they  are  united.  By  laboring  men,  I  do  not  mean 
only  the  farmers.  I  mean  all  who  contribute  in 
some  way  to  the  general  welfare.  They  should 
forget  prejudices  and  party  names,  and  remember 
only  the  best  interests  of  the  people.  Let  us  see 
if  we  cannot,  in  Illinois,  protect  every  department 
of  industry.  Let  us  see  if  all  property  cannot  be 
protected  alike  and  taxed  alike,  whether  owned  by 
individuals  or  corporations. 

Where  industry  creates  and  justice  protects,, 
prosperity  dwells. 

Let  me  tell  you  something  more  about  Illinois : 
We  have  fifty-six  thousand  square  miles  of  land  — 
nearly  thirty-six  million  acres.  Upon  these  plains 


208  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

we  can  raise  enough  to  feed  and  clothe  twenty 
million  people.  Beneath  these  prairies  were  hidden 
millions  of  ages  ago,  by  that  old  miser,  the  sun, 
thirty-six  thousand  square  miles  of  coal.  The 
aggregate  thickness  of  these  veins  is  at  least  fifteen 
feet.  Think  of  a  column  of  coal  one  mile  square 
and  one  hundred  miles  high !  All  this  came  from 
the  sun.  What  a  sunbeam  such  a  column  would 
'be !  Think  of  the  engines  and  machines  this  coal 
will  run  and  turn  and  whirl.!  Think  of  all  this 
force,  willed  and  left  to  us  by  the  dead  morning  of 
the  world !  Think  of  the  firesides  of  the  future 
around  which  will  sit  the  fathers,  mothers  and 
children  of  the  years  to  be !  Think  of  the  sweet 
and  happy  faces,  the  loving  and  tender  eyes  that 
will  glow  and  gleam  in  the  sacred  light  of  all  these 
flames ! 

We  have  the  best  country  in  the  world,  and 
Illinois  is  the  best  state  in  that  country.  Is  there 
any  reason  that  our  farmers  should  not  be  prosper 
ous  and  happy  men  ?  They  have  every  advantage, 
and  within  their  reach  are  all  the  comforts  and 
conveniences  of  life. 

Do  not  get  the  land  fever  and  think  you  must 
buy  all  that  joins  you.  Get  out  of  debt  as  soon  as 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  209 

you  possibly  can.  A  mortgage  casts  a  shadow  on 
the  sunniest  field.  There  is  no  business  under  the 
sun  that  can  pay  ten  per  cent. 

Ainsworth  R.  Spofford  gives  the  following  facts 
about  interest:  "One  dollar  loaned  for  one  hundred 
years  at  six  per  cent.,  with  the  interest  collected 
annually  and  added  to  the  principal,  will  amount  to 
three  hundred  and  forty  dollars.  At  eight  per 
cent,  it  amounts  to  two  thousand  two  hundred  and 
three  dollars.  At  three  per  cent,  it  amounts  only 
to  nineteen  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents.  At  ten 
per  cent,  it  is  thirteen  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
nine  dollars,  or  about  seven  hundred  times  as  much. 
At  twelve  per  cent,  it  amounts  to  eighty-four  thou 
sand  and  seventy-five  dollars,  or  more  than  four 
thousand  times  as  much.  At  eighteen  per  cent,  it 
amounts  to  fifteen  million  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five  thousand  and  seven  dollars.  At  twenty-four 
per  cent,  (which  we  sometimes  hear  talked  of)  it 
reaches  the  enormous  sum  of  two  billion  five  hund 
red  and  fifty-one  million  seven  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  four  dollars." 

One  dollar,  at  compound  interest,  at  twenty-four 
per  cent.,  for  one  hundred   years,  would  produce  a 
sum  equal  to  our  national  debt. 
14 


210  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

Interest  eats  night  and  day,  and  the  more  it 
eats  the  hungrier  it  grows.  The  farmer  in  debt, 
lying  awake  at  night,  can,  if  he  listens,  hear  it 
gnaw.  If  he  owes  nothing,  he  can  hear  his  corn 
grow.  Get  out  of  debt  as  soon  as  you  possibly 
can.  You  have  supported  idle  avarice  and  lazy 
economy  long  enough. 

Above  all  let  every  farmer  treat  his  wife  and 
children  with  infinite  kindness.  Give  your  sons 
and  daughters  every  advantage  within  your  power. 
In  the  air  of  kindness  they  will  grow  about  you 
like  flowers.  They  will  fill  your  homes  with  sun 
shine  and  all  your  years  with  joy.  Do  not  try  to 
rule  by  force.  A  blow  from  a  parent  leaves  a  scar 
on  the  soul.  I  should  feel  ashamed  to  die  sur 
rounded  by  children  I  had  whipped.  Think  of 
feeling  upon  your  dying  lips  the  kiss  of  a  child  you 
had  struck. 

See  to  it  that  your  wife  has  every  convenience. 
Make  her  life  worth  living.  Never  allow  her  to 
become  a  servant.  Wives,  weary  and  worn, 
mothers,  wrinkled  and  bent  before  their  time,  fill 
homes  with  grief  and  shame.  If  you  are  not  able 
to  hire  help  for  your  wives,  help  them  yourselves. 
See  that  they  have  the  best  utensils  to  work  with. 


AB  O  UT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  211 

Women  cannot  create  things  by  magic.  Have 
plenty  of  wood  and  coal  —  good  cellars  and  plenty 
in  them.  Have  cisterns,  so  that  you  can  have 
plenty  of  rain  water  for  washing.  Do  not  rely  on 
a  barrel  and  a  board.  When  the  rain  comes  the 
board  will  be  lost  or  the  hoops  will  be  off  the 
barrel. 

Farmers  should  live  like  princes.  Eat  the  best 
things  you  raise  and  sell  the  rest.  Have  good- 
things  to  cook  and  good  things  to  cook  with.  Of 
all  people  in  our  country,  you  should  live  the  best. 
Throw  your  miserable  little  stoves  out  of  the  win 
dow.  Get  ranges,  and  have  them  so  built  that 
your  wife  need  not  burn  her  face  off  to  get  you  a 
breakfast.  Do  not  make  her  cook  in  a  kitchen  hot 
as  the  orthodox  perdition.  The  beef,  not  the  cook, 
should  be  roasted.  It  is  just  as  easy  to  have 
things  convenient  and  right  as  to  have  them  any 
other  way. 

Cooking  is  one  of  the  fine  arts.  Give  your 
wives  and  daughters  things  to  cook,  and  things 
to  cook  with,  and  they  will  soon  become  most 
excellent  cooks.  Good  cooking  is  the  basis  of 
civilization.  The  man  whose  arteries  and  veins  are 
filled  with  rich  blood  made  of  good  and  well 


212  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

cooked  food,  has  pluck,  courage,  endurance  and 
and  noble  impulses.  The  inventor  of  a  good  soup 
did  more  for  his  race  than  the  maker  of  any  creed. 
The  doctrines  of  total  depravity  and  endless  pun 
ishment  were  born  of  bad  cooking  and  dyspepsia. 
Remember  that  your  wife  should  have  the  things 
to  cook  with. 

In  the  good  old  days  there  would  be  eleven 
children  in  the  family  and  only  one  skillet.  Every 
thing  was  broken  or  cracked  or  loaned  or  lost. 

There  ought  to  be  a  law  making  it  a  crime, 
punishable  by  imprisonment,  to  fry  beefsteak. 
..Broil  it;  it  is  just  as  easy,  and  when  broiled  it  is 
delicious.  Fried  beefsteak  is  not  fit  for  a  wild 
beast.  You  can  broil  even  on  a  stove.  Shut  the 
front  damper  —  open  the  back  one  —  then  take  off 
a  griddle.  There  will  then  be  a  draft  downwards 
through  this  opening.  Put  on  your  steak,  using  a 
wire  broiler,  and  not  a  particle  of  smoke  will  touch 
it,  for  the  reason  that  the  smoke  goes  down.  If 
you  try  to  broil  it  with  the  front  damper  open,  the 
smoke  will  rise.  For  broiling,  coal,  even  soft  coal, 
makes  a  better  fire  than  wood. 

There  is  no  reason  why  farmers  should  not  have 
fresh  meat  all  the  year  round.  There  is  certainly 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  213 

no  sense  in  stuffing  yourself  full  of  salt  meat  every 
morning,  and  making  a  well  or  a  cistern  of  your 
stomach  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  Every  farmer 
should  have  an  ice  house.  Upon  or  near  every 
farm  is  some  stream  from  which  plenty  of  ice  can 
be  obtained,  and  the  long  summer  days  made  de 
lightful.  Dr.  Draper,  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
scientists,  says  that  ice  water  is  healthy,  and  that 
it  has  done  away  with  many  of  the  low  forms  of 
fever  in  the  great  cities.  Ice  has  become  one.  of 
the  necessaries  of  civilized  life,  and  without  it  there 
is  very  little  comfort. 

Make  your  homes  pleasant.  Have  your  houses 
warm  and  comfortable  for  the  winter.  Do  not  build 
a  story-and-a-half  house.  The  half  story  is  sim 
ply  an  oven  in  which,  during  the  summer,  you  will 
bake  every  night,  and  feel  in  the  morning  as  though 
only  the  rind  of  yourself  was  left. 

Decorate  your  rooms,  even  if  you  do  so  with 
cheap  engravings.  The  cheapest  are  far  better 
than  none.  Have  books  —  have  papers,  and  read 
them.  You  have  more  leisure  than  the  dwellers  in 
cities.  Beautify  your  grounds  with  plants  and  flow 
ers  and  vines.  Have  good  gardens.  Remember 
that  everything  of  beauty  tends  to  the  elevation  of 


214  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

man.  Every  little  morning-glory  whose  purple 
bosom  is  thrilled  with  the  amorous  kisses  of  the 
sun,  tends  to  put  a  blossom  in  your  heart.  Do  not 
judge  of  the  value  of  everything  by  the  market 
reports.  Every  flower  about  a  house  certifies  to 
the  refinement  of  somebody.  Every  vine  climbing 
and  blossoming,  tells  of  love  and  joy. 

Make  your  houses  comfortable.  Do  not  huddle 
together  in  a  little  room  around  a  red-hot  stove, 
with  every  window  fastened  down.  Do  not  live  in 
this  poisoned  atmosphere,  and  then,  when  one  of 
your  children  dies,  put  a  piece  in  the  papers  com 
mencing  with,  "Whereas,  it  has  pleased  divine 
Providence  to  remove  from  our  midst — ."  Have 
plenty  of  air,  and  plenty  of  warmth.  Comfort  is 
health.  Do  not  imagine  anything  is  unhealthy 
simply  because  it  is  pleasant.  That  is  an  old  and 
foolish  idea. 

Let  your  children  sleep.  Do  not  drag  them 
from  their  beds  in  the  darkness  of  night.  Do  not 
compel  them  to  associate  all  that  is  tiresome,  irk 
some  and  dreadful  with  cultivating  the  soil.  In 
this  way  you  bring  farming  into  hatred  and  disre 
pute.  Treat  your  children  with  infinite  kindness  — 
treat  them  as  equals.  There  is  no  happiness  in  a 


AB  O  UT  FAR  AUNG  IN  ILLINOIS.  2 1 5 

home  not  filled  with  love.  Where  the  husband 
hates  his  wife — where  the  wife  hates  the  husband; 
where  children  hate  their  parents  and  each  other  — 
there  is  a  hell  upon  earth. 

There  is  no  reason  why  farmers  should  not  be 
the  kindest  and  most  cultivated  of  men.  There  is 
nothing  in  plowing  the  fields  to  make  men  cross, 
cruel  and  crabbed.  To  look  upon  the  sunny  slopes 
covered  with  daisies  does  not  tend  to  make  men 
unjust.  Whoever  labors  for  the  happiness  of  those 
he  loves,  elevates  himself,  no  matter  whether  he 
works  in  the  dark  and  dreary  shops,  or  in  the 
perfumed  fields.  To  work  for  others  is,  in  reality, 
the  only  way  in  which  a  man  can  work  for  himself. 
Selfishness  is  ignorance.  Speculators  cannot  make 
unless  somebody  loses.  In  the  realm  of. specula 
tion,  every  success  has  at  least  one  victim.  The 
harvest  reaped  by  the  farmer  benefits  all  and  injures 
none.  For  him  to  succeed,  it  is  not  necessary  that 
some  one  should  fail.  The  same  is  true  of  all 
producers  —  of  all  laborers. 

I  can  imagine  no  condition  that  carries  with  it. 
it  such  a  promise  of  joy  as  that  of  the  farmer  in 
the  early  winter.  He  has  his  cellar  filled  —  he  has 
made  every  preparation  for  the  days  of  snow  and 


216  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

storm — he  looks  forward  to  three  months  of  ease 
and  rest ;  to  three  months  of  fireside  -  content ; 
three  months  with  wife  and  children ;  three  months 
of  long,  delightful  evenings ;  three  months  of  home ; 
three  months  of  solid  comfort. 

When  the  life  of  the  farmer  is  such  as  I  have 
described,  the  cities  and  towns  will  not  be  filled 
with  want — the  streets  will  not  be  crowded  with 
wrecked  rogues,  broken  bankers,  and  bankrupt 
speculators.  The  fields  will  be  tilled,  and  country 
villages,  almost  hidden  by  trees  and  vines  and 
flowers,  filled  with  industrious  and  happy  people, 
will  nestle  in  every  vale  and  gleam  like  gems  on 
every  plain. 

The  idea  must  be  done  away  with  that  there  is 
something  intellectually  degrading  in  cultivating 
the  soil.  Nothing  can  be  nobler  than  to  be  useful. 
Idleness  should  not  be  respectable. 

If  farmers  will  cultivate  well,  and  without  waste  ; 
if  they  will  sofcbuild  that  their  houses  will  be  warm 
in  winter  and  cool  in  summer;  if  they  will  plant 
trees  and  beautify  their  homes ;  if  they  will  occupy 
their  leisure  in  reading,  in  thinking,  in  improving 
their  minds  and  in  devising  ways  and  means  to 
make  their  business  profitable  and  pleasant;  if 


ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS.  217 

they  will  live  nearer  together  and  cultivate  socia 
bility  ;  if  they  will  come  'together  often ;  if  they 
will  have  reading  rooms  and  cultivate  music;  if 
they  will  have  bath-rooms,  ice-houses  and  good 
gardens ;  if  their  wives  can  have  an  easy  time ;  if 
their  sons  and  daughters  can  have  an  opportunity 
to  keep  in  line  with  the  thoughts  and  dis 
coveries  of  the  world ;  if  the  nights  can  be  taken 
for  sleep  and  the  evenings  for  enjoyment,  every 
body  will  be  in  love  with  the  fields.  Happiness 
should  be  the  object  of  life,  and  if  life  on  the  farm 
can  be  made  really  happy,  the  children  will  grow 
up  in  love  with  the  meadows,  the  streams,  the 
woods  and  the  old  home.  Around  the  farm  will 
cling  and  cluster  the  happy  memories  of  the  de- 
lighful  years. 

Remember,  I  pray  you,  that  you  are  in  partner 
ship  with  all  labor  —  that  you  should  join  hands 
with  all  the  sons  and  daughters  of  toil,  and  that  all 
who  work  belong  to  the  same  noble  family. 

For  my  part,  I  envy  the  man  who  has  lived  on 
the  same  broad  acres  from  his  boyhood,  who  culti 
vates  the  fields  where  in  youth  he  played,  and  lives 
where  his  father  lived  and  died. 

I  can  imagine  no  sweeter  way  to  end  one's  life 


218  ABOUT  FARMING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

than  in  the  quiet  of  the  country,  out  of  the  mad 
race  for  money,  place  and  power — far  from  the 
demands  of  business  —  out  of  the  dusty  highway 
where  fools  struggle  and  strive  for  the  hollow  praise 
of  other  fools. 

Surrounded  by  pleasant  fields  and  faithful 
friends,  by  those  I  have  loved,  I  hope  to  end  my 
days.  And  this  I  hope  may  be  the  lot  of  all  who 
hear  my  voice.  I  hope  that  you,  in  the  country,  in 
houses  covered  with  vines  and  clothed  with  flowers, 
looking  from  the  open  window  upon  rustling  fields 
of  corn  and  wheat,  over  which  will  run  the  sunshine 
and  the  shadow,  surrounded  by  those  whose  lives 

tf 

you  have  filled  with  joy,  will  pass  away  serenely  as 
the  Autumn  dies. 


SPEECH  AT   CINCINNATI. 


SPEECH   AT   CINCINNATI. 


NOMINATING    JAMES    G.    ELAINE    FOR    THE    PRESIDENCY, 
JUNE,    1876. 


MASSACHUSETTS  may  be  satisfied  with 
the  loyalty,  of  Benjamin  H.  Bristow;  so  am 
I;  but  if  any  man  nominated  by  this  convention 
can  not  carry  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  I  am  not 
satisfied  with  the  loyalty  of  that  State.  If  the 
nominee  of  this  convention  can  not  carry  the  grand 
old  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  by  seventy- 
five  thousand  majority,  I  would  advise  them  to  sell 
out  Faneuil  Hall  as  a  Democratic  headquarters.  .1 
would  advise  them  to  take  from  Bunker  Hill  that 
old  monument  of  glory. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  demand 
as  their  leader  in  the  great  contest  of  1876  a  man 
of  intelligence,  a  man  of  integrity,  a  man  of  well- 
known  and  approved  political  opinions.  They  de 
mand  a  statesman ;  they  demand  a  reformer  after 


\ 

222  POLITICAL  ADDRESSES. 

as   well   as  before  the  election.     They  demand  a 
politician  in  the  highest,  broadest  and  best  sense  — 
a  man  of  superb  moral  courage.     They  demand  a 
man  acquainted  with  public  affairs  —  with  the  wants 
of  the  people;  with  not  only  the   requirements  of 
the   hour,    but   with   the   demands    of   the    future. 
They  demand  a  man  broad  enough  to  comprehend 
the    relations    of    this   government   to   the    other 
nations  of  the  earth.      They  demand  a  man  well 
versed  in  the  powers,  duties,  and  prerogatives  of 
each  and    every  department  of  this   government. 
They  demand  a  man  who  will  sacredly  preserve  the 
financial    honor  of   the    United    States ;    one    who 
knows  enough  to  know  that  the  national  debt  must 
be  paid  through  the  prosperity  of  this  people ;  one 
who  knows  enough  to  know  that  all  the  financial 
theories  in  the  world  cannot  redeem  a  single  dol 
lar;  one  who  knows  enough  to  know  that  all  the 
money  must  be  made,  not  by  law,  but  by  labor; 
one  who  knows  enough  to  know  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  the  industry  to  make  the 
money,  and  the  honor  to  pay  it  over  just  as  fast  as 
they  make  it. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  demand 
a  man  who  knows  that  prosperity  and  resumption, 


POLITICAL   ADDRESSES.  223 

when  they  come,  must  come  together;  that  when 
they  come,  they  will  come  hand  in  hand  through 
the  golden  harvest  fields ;  hand  in  hand  by  the 
whirling  spindles  and  the  turning  wheels ;  hand  in 
hand  past  the  open  furnace  doors ;  hand  in  hand  by 
the  flaming  forges ;  hand  in  hand  by  the  chimneys 
filled  with  eager  fire,  greeted  arid  grasped  by  the 
countless  sons  of  toil. 

This  money  has  to  be  dug  out  of  the  earth. 
You  can  not  make  it  by  passing  resolutions  in  a 
political  convention. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  want  a 
man  who  knows  that  this  government  should  pro 
tect  every  citizen,  at  home  and  abroad ;  who  knows 
that  any  government  that  will  not  defend  its 
defenders,  and  protect  its  protectors,  is  a  disgrace 
to  the  map  of  the  world.  They  demand  a  man 
who  believes  in  the  eternal  separation  and  divorce-' 
ment  of  church  and  school.  They  demand  a  man 
whose  political  reputation  is  spotless  as  a  star ;  but 
they  do  not  demand  that  their  candidate  shall  have 
a  certificate  of  moral  character  signed  by  a  confed 
erate  congress.  The  man  who  has,  in  full,  heaped 
and  rounded  measure,  all  these  splendid  qualifica 
tions,  is  the  present  grand  and  gallant  leader  of 
the  Republican  party — James  G.  Elaine. 


224  POLITICAL   ADDRESSES. 

Our  country,  crowned  with  the  vast  and  mar 
velous  achievements  of  its  first  century,  asks  for  a 
man  worthy  of  the  past,  and  prophetic  of  her 
future;  asks  for  a  man  who  has  the  audacity  of 
genius ;  asks  for  a  man  who  is  the  grandest  combi 
nation  of  heart,  conscience  and  brain  beneath  her 
flag  —  such  a  man  is  James  G.  Elaine. 

For  the  Republican  host,  led  by  this  intrepid 
man,  there  can  be  no  defeat. 

This  is  a  grand  year — a  year  filled  with  the 
recollections  of  the  Revolution ;  filled  with  proud 
and  tender  memories  of  the  past;  with  the  sacred 
legends  of  liberty  —  a  year  in  which  the  sons  of 
freedom  will  drink  from  the  fountains  of  enthu 
siasm  ;  a  year  in  which  the  people  call  for  a  man 
who 'has  preserved  in  Congress  what  our  soldiers 
won  upon  the  field ;  a  year  in  which  they  call  for 
the  man  who  has  torn  from  the  throat  of  treason 
the  tongue  of  slander  —  for  the  man  who  has 
snatched  the  mask  of  Democracy  from  the  hideous 
face  of  rebellion;  for  the  man  who,  like  an  intel 
lectual  athlete,  has  stood  .in  the  arena  of  debate 
and  challenged  all  comers,  and  who  is  still  a  total 
stranger  to  defeat. 

Like  an  armed  warrior,   like  a  plumed  knight, 


POLITICAL   ADDRESSES.  225 

James  G.  Blaine  marched  down  the  halls  of  the 
American  Congress  and  threw  his  shining  lance  full 
and  fair  against  the  brazen  foreheads  of  the  de- 
famers  of  his  country  and  the  maligners  of  his 
honor.  For  the  Republican  party  to  desert  this 
gallant  leader  now,  is  as  though  an  army  should 
desert  their  general  upon  the  field  of  battle. 

James  G.  Blaine  is  now  and  has  been  for  years 
the  bearer  of  the  sacred  standard  of  the  Republican 
party.  I  call  it  sacred,  because  no  human  being 
can  stand  beneath  its  folds  without  becoming  and 
without  remaining  free. 

Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  in  the  name  of 
the  great  Republic,  the  only  Republic  that  ever 
existed  upon  this  earth;  in  the  name  of  all  her 
defenders  and  of  all  her  supporters;  in  the  name 
of  all  her  soldiers  living;  in  the  name  of  all  her 
soldiers  dead  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  in  the 
name  of  those  who  perished  in  the  skeleton  clutch 
of  famine  at  Andersonville  and  Libby,  whose  suffer 
ings  he  so  vividly  remembers,  Illinois -- Illinois 
nominates  for  the  next  President  of  this  country, 
that  prince  of  parliamentarians — that  leader  of 
leaders  —  James  G.  Blaine. 


"THE   PAST   RISES   BEFORE   ME 
LIKE  A  DREAM." 


"THE    PAST   RISES   BEFORE   ME 
LIKE  A  DREAM." 


EXTRACT  FROM  A  SPEECH  DELIVERED  AT  THE  SOLDIERS' 
REUNION  AT  INDIANAPOLIS,  SEPT.   21,   1876. 


THE  past  rises  before  me  like  a  dream.  Again 
we  are  in  the  great  struggle  for  national 
life.  We  hear  the  sounds  of  preparation  —  the 
music  of  boisterous  drums  —  the  silver  voices  of 
heroic  bugles.  We  see  thousands  of  assemblages, 
and  hear  the  appeals  of  orators ;  we  see  the  pale 
cheeks  of  women,  and  the  flushed  faces  of  men ; 
and  in  those  assemblages  we  see  all  the  dead 
whose  dust  we  have  covered  with  flowers.  We 
lose  sight  of  them  no  more.  We  are  with  them 
when  they  enlist  in  the  great  army  of  freedom. 
We  see  them  part  with  those  they  love.  Some  are 
walking  for  the  last  time  in  quiet,  woody  places, 
with  the  maidens  they  adore.  We  hear  the  whis- 


230  POLITICAL  ADDRESSES. 

perings  and  the  sweet  vows  of  eternal  love  as  they 
lingeringly  part  forever.  Others  are  bending  over 
cradles,  kissing  babes  that  are  asleep.  Some  are 
receiving  the  blessings  of  old  men.  Some  are 
parting  with  mothers  who  hold  them  and  press 
them  to  their  hearts  again  and  again,  and  say 
nothing.  Kisses  and  tears,  tears  and  kisses  — 
divine  mingling  of  agony  and  love !  And  some 
are  talking  with  wives,  and  endeavoring  with  brave 
words,  spoken  in  the  old  tones,  to  drive  from  their 
hearts  the  awful  fear.  We  see  them  part.  We 
see  the  wife  standing  in  the  door  with  the  babe  in 
her  arms — standing  in  the  sunlight  sobbing  —  at 
the  turn  of  the  road  a  hand  waves  —  she  answers 
by  holding  high  in  her  loving  arms  the  child.  He 
is  gone,  and  forever. 

We  see  them  all  as  they  march  proudly  away 
under  the  flaunting  flags,  keeping  time  to  the 
grand,  wild  music  of  war  —  marching  down  the 
streets  of  the  great  cities — through  the  towns  and 
across  the  prairies — down  to  the  fields  of  glory,  to 
do  and  to  die  for  the  eternal  right. 

We  go  with  them,  one  and  all.  We  are  by 
their  side  on  the  gory  fields  —  in  all  the  hospitals 
of  pain — on  all  the  weary  marches.  We  stand 


POLITICAL   ADDRESSES.  231 

guard  with  them  in  the  wild  storm  and  under  the 
quiet  stars.  We  are  with  them  in  ravines  running 
with  blood — in  the  furrows  of  old  fields.  We  are 
with  them  between  contending  hosts,  unable  to 
move,  wild  with  thirst,  the  life  ebbing  slowly  away 
among  the  withered  leaves.  We  see  them  pierced 
by  balls  and  torn  with  shells,  in  the  trenches,  by 
forts,  and  in  the  whirlwind  of  the  charge,  where 
men  become  iron,  with  nerves  of  steel. 

We  are  with  them  in  the  prisons  of  hatred  and 
famine ;  but  human  speech  can  never  tell  what  they 
endured. 

We  are  with  them  when  the  news  comes  that 
they  are  dead.  We  see  the  maiden  in  the  shadow 
of  her  first  sorrow.  We  see  the  silvered  head  of 
the  old  man  bowed  with  the  last  grief. 

The  past  rises  before  us,  and  we  see  four 
millions  of  human  beings  governed  by  the  lash  — 
we  see  them  bound  hand  and  foot  —  we  hear  the 
strokes  of  cruel  whips  —  we  see  the  hounds  track 
ing  women  through  tangled  swamps.  We  see 
babes  sold  from  the  breasts  of  mothers.  Cruelty 
unspeakable  !  Outrage  infinite ! 

Four  million  bodies  in  chains — four  million 
souls  in  fetters.  All  the  sacred  relations  of  wife, 


232  POLITICAL   ADDRESSES. 

mother,  father  and  child  trampled  beneath  the 
brutal  feet  of  might.  And  all  this  was  done  under 
our  own  beautiful  banner  of  the  free. 

The  past  rises  before  us.  We  hear  the  roar 
and  shriek  of  the  bursting  shell.  The  broken  fet 
ters  fall.  These  heroes  died.  We  look.  Instead 
of  slaves  we  see  men  and  women  and  children. 
The  wand  of  progress  touches  the  auction-block, 
the  slave-pen,  the  whipping-post,  and  we  see  homes 
and  firesides  and  school-houses  and  books,  and 
where  all  was  want  and  crime  and  cruelty  and  fear 
we  see  the  faces  of  the  free. 

These  heroes  are  dead.  They  died  for  liberty 
—  they  died  for  us.  They  are  at  rest.  They  sleep 
in  the  land  they  made  free,  under  the  flag  they 
rendered  stainless,  under  the  solemn  pines,  the  sad 
hemlocks,  the  tearful  willows,  and  the  embracing 
vines.  They  sleep  beneath  the  shadows  of  the 
clouds,  careless  alike  of  sunshine  or  of  storm,  each 
in  the  windowless  palace  of  Rest.  Earth  may  run 
red  with  other  wars  —  they  are  at  peace.  In  the 
midst  of  battle,  in  the  roar  of  conflict,  they  found 
the  serenity  of  death.  I  have  one  sentiment  for 
soldiers  living  and  dead:  Cheers  for  the  living; 
tears  for  the  dead. 


Over  Twenty  thousand  copies  of  this  book  already  sold. 

The  Gods 

AND 

OTHER  LECTURES. 


BY  ROBERT    G.    INGERSOLL. 


NEW  edition  of  Ingersoll's  Lectures  is  now  ready  for  distribu 
tion.  This  edition  contains  "The  Gods,"  "Humboldt,"  "Thomas 
Paine,"  "Individuality,"  and  "Heretics  and  Heresies."  These  Lectures 
have  just  been  revised,  and  many  changes,  additions,  and  corrections 
made  by  the  author. 

This  volume  is  handsomely  printed  on  tinted  paper,  and  substantially 
bound. 

These  Lectures  are  the  most  radical  ever  delivered  in  the  United 
States.  The  most  important  theological  questions  are  discussed  from 
a  perfectly  rational  point  of  view.  The  existence  of  the  supernatural 
is  denied,  and  reason,  observation,  and  experience  are  shown  to  be  the 
only  basis  upon  which  man  can  securely  build. 

There  is  an  effort  in  these  Lectures  to  drive  from  the  heart  the 
the  shadow  of  superstition  —  to  enable  man  to  enjoy  this  life,  and  to 
do  away  with  the  tyranny  of  the  Church. 

The  author  takes  the  ground  that  man  belongs  to  himself;  that  each 
individual  should,  at  all  hazards,  maintain  his  intellectual  freedom ;  and 
reject  with  scorn  every  religion  that  demands  the  sacrifice  of  his  Indi 
viduality. 

%*  Price,  $1.50.     A  liberal  discount  to  the  Trade. 

'       C.   P.   FARRELL,  Publisher, 

PEORIA,  ILLINOIS. 


PREFACE. 


FOR  THE   LOVE  OF  GOD. 


FOR  THE   USE   OF   MAN. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  NOTICES  OF  THE  PRESS. 


[From  "The  Chicago  Times,"  July  5,  1874.] 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  books  ever  presented  to  the  public  is  tha 
just  issued  by  Col.  Jngersoll.  It  is  remarkable  for  many  things :  Its  abil 
ity,  the  spirit  of  fairness  that  pervades  it,  but  above  all,  for  its  courage. 
It  is  also  remarkable  in  another  sense  —  no  inherent  quality,  to  be  sure  — 
and  that  is,  it  marks  an  epoch  in  the  world  of  thought,  a  new  birth  ;  for 
this  book,  now  everywhere  read  and  reviewed  on  its  merits,  would  have 

been  met  by  a  howl  of  execration  but  a  simple  ten  years  ago 

Col.  Ingersoll  is  a  man  in  earnest.  He  a  man  of  power.  The  rarest  gifts 
bountiful  Nature  now  and  then  bestows  on  mortals,  seldom  more  than  one 
at  a  time,  she  has  showered  on  him  in  profusion.  As  an  orator,  he  stands 
probably  without  an  equal  in  the  land  ;  as  a  writer,  considering  that  close 
application  to  the  law  has  given  him  little  opportunity  for  practice,  he  is 
almost  equal  to  himself  as  an  orator;  and  this  in  the  most  comprehensive 
sense,  for  his  efforts  present  a  rare  combination  of  force,  pure  diction, 
poetical  imagery,  comprehensive  and  incisive  reasoning,  and  a  logic  that 
is  inexorable.  But  what  gives  most  character  to  his  style,  and  constitutes 
its  greatest  charm,  is  its  suggestiveness.  Mr.  Ingersoll  never  exhausts  a 
subject.  His  lectures  are  strings  of  epigrams.  .  .  .  The  absolute 
truth  is  unattainable  for  man.  The  nearest  any  of  us  will  ever  get  to  the 
great  secret  of  our  existence,  is  to  be  honest  with  ourselves.  In  this  view, 
Robert  G.  Ingersoll  is  nearer  finite  truth  than  most  men. 


[From  "The  Chicago  Journal,"  July  3,  1874.] 

One  of  the  most  superbly  gotten-up  books  we  have  seen  for  many  a  day. 
This  book  belongs  to  a  class  of  publications  which  challenge  attention  by 
boldness  and  strength.  Every  sentence  is  brilliant  with  the  light  of  genius, 
and  based  on  sincerity.  It  is  probably  the  most  radical  book  to  be  found 
in  the  whole  range  of  theology.  The  issue  joined  by  this  volume  is  vital 
to  every  feature  ot  religion,  and  that  all  the  more,  because  the  moral  tone 
is  lofty.  It  is  well  for  the  cause  of  truth  that  no  issue  of  ethics,  politics, 
sociology,  or  personalities,  is  raised,  or  so  much  as  suggested.  The  posi 
tions  taken  must  be  met  squarely  if  at  all:  .  .  The  lecture  on  Humboldt 
shows  a  great  wealth  of  knowledge,  and  a  profound  appreciation  of  what 
science  has  done  for  the  world.  .  .  The  dominant  idea  of  the  volume 
is,  Belief  should  rest  on  evidence. 


[From  "The  St.  Louis  Republican,"  July  n,  1874.] 

"The  Gods,  and  Other  Lectures,"  by  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  is  a  daring 
book.  Many  would  call  it  a  bad  book ;  and  yet  it  illustrates  the  grand 
principle  of  freedom  of  thought  and  opinion,  and  is  perfectly  decorous  in 
language.  The  tree  of  life  and  knowledge  still  stands  in  the  garden  bear 
ing  fruit.  Those  who  chose  can  eat  of  it ;  those  who  are  not  hungry  can 
let  it  alone.  It  is  a  free  lunch,  just  as  it  always  was ;  and  by  the  way 
humanity  has  shaken,  and  are  continually  pressing  around  it,  we  are  con 
stantly  reminded  of  what  a  spunky  little  woman  our  mother  Eve  was. 
There  is  a  rich  mine  of  human  nature  in  her,  and  its  treasures  are  exhaust- 
less.  Those  who  do  not  wish  to  read  Mr.  IngersolPs  book  about  the  Gods 
can  let  it  alone,  and  those  who  wish  to  abuse  it  without  reading  have  that 
privilege,  for  the  press  is  as  free  to  them  as  it  was  to  him.  .  .  .  The 
book  is  written  with  great  care  and  precision,  and  its  coolness  is  something 
astonishing.  The  motto  on  the  title  page  is  an  index  to  the  contents.  It 
is:  "Give  me  the  storm  and  tempest  of  thought  and  action,  rather  than 
the  dead  calm  of  ignorance  and  faith.  Banish  me  from  Eden  when  you 
will,  but  first  let  me  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge."  .  .  . 


[From  "The  Cincinnati  Commercial,"  July  n,  1874.] 

Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  of  Illinois,  is  re.cognized  as  one  among  the  most 
brilliant  of  radical  speakers  and  writers  ;  and  he  is  very  radical,  as  any  one 
who  has  read  his  lecture  on  "The  Gods,"  well  knows.  He  does  not  mince 
matters.  He  discusses  theological  questions  from  a  rational  point  of  view. 
He  ignores  the  supernatural,  and  builds  upon  the  foundation  of  reason, 
observation,  and  experience.  He  takes  the  ground  that  man  belongs  to 
himself,  must  maintain  his  intellectual  freedom,  and  reject  every  religion 
that  demands  the  sacrifice  of  his  individuality. 
The  typography  of  this  volume  is  superb. 


[  From  "  The  Spiritualist  at  Work."] 

Colonel  R.  G.  Ingersoll  is  one  of  the  boldest  and  clearest  thinkers  of 
the  age,  and  as  an  orator  he  has  few  rivals,  and  no  superiors,  in  America. 
The  book  before  us  is,  therefore,  a  work  of  great  merit.  It  is  full  of  the 
most  radical  and  advanced  thought,  clothed  in  robes  of  purest  eloquence. 
.  .  .  It  is  a  work  upon  which  great  care  has  been  bestowed,  and  deep 
thought  and  profound  scholarship  expended,  and  it  is  destined  to  become 
standard.  .  .  .  The  Lectures  on  Humboldt  and  Paine  are  able  reviews 
of  those  great  representative  thinkers,  and  valuable  as  historical  and  bio 
graphical  sketches.  .  .  .  . 


